What A Demon Child Wants
by Kinoma-chan
Summary: It's been 6 years since the birth of Hiei's child. Now the child has showed his lust for blood...what can Kurama and Hiei do?Sequel 2 T.D.
1. Chapter 1

What a Demon Child Wants

By: Kinoma Hinaguchi

Disclaimer: All characters, with the exception of Kage and Esmerel, belong to Togashi-sensei and are solely used in this story for my own fantasies. Great thing, fanfiction, is it not?

Chapter 1: Oxford Days

"Kage," Hiei the Ice Demon called out. "Come to me. We must leave for Ningenkai."

Out of the thicket of trees appeared a shadow. The dark marks along his arms and legs, and the ones on his face helping him to blend into the darkness that surrounded him and his mother.

"What is it, Hiei? Why are we going to the ningen world?" Kage asked in a soft voice. It sounded kind of weird, because it was so high-pitched compared to his scary appearance.

Hiei glared at his son and whacked him across the head. "What did I tell you about asking questions? You never ask questions, especially during battle." Kage nearly nodded, but still looked at his mother as he wondered why they were to visit the ningen world.

"Come, we must make haste if we are to arrive in time." Hiei said, and leaped off to the north.

Kage held back a "For what?" that had almost escaped his lips and followed Hiei, having slight difficulties keeping up with him.

After about a half hour of traveling, Hiei and Kage found themselves in front of the only legal entrance and exit to the Makai. Hiei motioned for Kage to stay in the trees, and Hiei jumped down and walked over to the oni guard.

The oni guard saw Hiei coming and stood back, a little nervous. He remembered this Demon from six years ago. _Wasn't he a little more obese back then?_ The oni found himself thinking. He thus did not realize that Hiei was now standing in front of him, patiently waiting for the oni to realize that Hiei was there.

"Hey!" Hiei finally yelled, bringing the oni back. "Could we get through?"

The oni wondered why Hiei had said "we" but realized there must be another or more in the surrounding trees. He nodded and said:

"Please give me your name, clan name, and your purpose for entering Ningenkai, and I will let you pass."

Hiei sighed and waved his hand, calling Kage over to him. Kage appeared like a shadow next to Hiei, surprising the poor gatekeeper.

"I am Hiei of the Ice Clan and this is Kage. He has no clan. We are visiting a friend of mine who lives in the ningen world. Is that enough for you?" The oni nodded, and Hiei and Kage leaped through the portal, into a back alley of Tokyo, Japan.

"So this is what the ningen world is like." Kage said in fascination. "Tell me, Hiei, what do the humans look like?"

Hiei, after grumbling over his son's repeated questions, decided to answer this one. "They look like the two of us, only without a third eye, or demon markings on their body." Kage smiled, thinking of a demon without demon markings.

_What weird creatures!_ He thought to himself. He wanted to go look at them, but knew that Hiei would not care about his want to do so, so he simply followed the Ice Demon as he headed off North again.

In another few hours, they had caught a ride on a large boat (Kage had no clue what it was) and were headed over to mainland Asia. There they traveled until they reached West Europe, where Hiei found a good forest and made a quick camp in the trees.

"Tomorrow we are off to England." Hiei told Kage, before falling asleep, his hand across his katana sheath.

Kage stayed up that night, and wandered into the nearby village. He was so interested in seeing what the humans looked like, that he forgot his mother's warning not to go near them. He stuck to the shadows, which was easy for him to do, that being his name, and he searched the village for any sign of human life.

After about ten minutes, he heard a soft voice singing in the distance. He followed it to find a beautiful figure bathing in a spring of hot water. She had pale skin and long, purple hair. Kage's heart skipped a beat. She was the most beautiful thing he had seen, which was not really saying anything, since he had never seen anything beautiful, but he was still amazed by the beauty of the girl in front of him.

Even though he was only six, he could tell that there was an attraction between the girl and him. She looked to be twice his age.

He came up behind her as quietly as he could, eventually perching himself in a nearby tree.

She stopped singing as soon as he had settled and called out to him:

"Stranger, why do you hide? Were you watching me?" Her voice was soft, just like her eyes. They were light blue and seemed to hold a sadness to them that was unspoken in her voice.

Kage was not sure of what to do, but he decided to show himself to this girl. He leaped down to the ground and walked toward her, saying as he strode over:

"I apologize for watching you, but I have never seen your like before. I am…not used to this place."

She smiled and gave a small chuckle. She wrapped her body in a white towel and got up out of the hot spring, walking over to meet him. She took his hand in hers when they were close enough and smiled, looking at the demon markings on it.

"I see what you mean, dear." She said, outlining the marking with her forefinger. "Tell me, young Demon, what clan are you from?"

He took his arm out from her grasp and backed away.

"How—how did you know that I was a Demon?" He stuttered.

She giggled and answered his question, walking closer to him. " Silly, not many Humans would tattoo themselves this vividly. I can see it in your eyes too. What clan are you from?"

Kage relaxed under her soft gaze and replied, "I have no clan. My mother was from the Ice Clan, and I have never known my father." Kage looked down. He was embarrassed of never having known his father.

He was soon enveloped by the girl's arms as she hugged him in a tight ball of warmth. He felt some of his anxieties melt away, and pushed himself farther into her breast, enjoying the warmth that permeated from her body.

"Would you like to see something, my dear Demon?" The purple-haired girl said. Now that she was closer, he could see that she was actually older than he had first thought, but did not know how the humans aged, so did not know what age to call her. Her purple hair framed her face, and she has bangs that split in the middle as if they were unveiling something on the middle of her forehead. Two longer strips of hair framed her face and brushed her collar bone as she smiled questioningly. He nodded numbly and she backed away from him slightly.

"I know that you were wondering what a ningen looks like, but I am afraid that I really am not one. My sister is able to mask my deformities, as the ningen would call them. Here, let me show you." She pressed her forefinger against her forehead, then against both of her cheeks and suddenly a bright light engulfed her body, and cat ears sprouted from her head, light blue in color with purple stripes. Then a cat tail in the same design as her ears, and demon markings appeared on her arms and legs, and on her face. Her eyes also changed color. One stayed the soft blue that the human form of her had been, and the other changed to a dark green.

Kage stood back and watched in awe as the girl finished her transformation. The whole process only took about six seconds.

The girl now bowed down and said in a slightly higher pitched voice: "Now then, my name is Ki, the Water/Cat Demon. What is your name, mister?" A wild look appeared in her eyes. She was suddenly a hyper, happy-go-lucky demon, instead of the solemn, sad human.

Kage regained his control and responded: "My name is…Kage. Why—why did your aura change?" He asked in confusion.

Ki frowned. "I don't know what your talking about, Kage-chan. I was just sad earlier. Now I am my normal self. I hate being a human." She shifted uncomfortably and looked around. "Excuse me for a minute, would you, Kage-chan?" Kage nodded numbly, and Ki hopped over to the far side of the onsen, grabbing what looked like clothing and heading off into one of the nearby houses. Before she entered, she motioned for Kage to follow her, which he did, finding himself inside a room with a few comfy-looking sitting devices, a table, and a couple of devices that were producing artificial light.

Ki smiled at him, telling him to sit down and that she would be with him shortly. She exited the room out of another entrance and Kage was left alone in the room. He perched upon the longer sitting device and continued looking around the room. He saw a couple other exits off of the room he was in, one of them having a basket of fruit on the table. He looked at it with a hunger that ached in his belly.

Shortly after he decided to stop staring at the fruit, Ki entered the room, now dressed in a simple dress. It was light pink in color and flowed along down her legs until it cut off right below her knees, just like her long, purple hair.

"Now, Kage-chan. Why are you in the ningen world?" It was a simple question, but Kage did not have a good answer.

"I am…not entirely sure. My mother does not tell me where we go. I am just to follow. I do know that we are apparently visiting a friend who lives at a place called Oxford."

Ki put a finger to her chin, thinking. After a while, she clapped her hands together in realization and said in a hyper voice: "Kurama-kun? Is your mother going to meet Kurama-kun?"

Kage blinked and shrugged. The name of the person she spoke of did sound familiar, but he did not know why.

Ki took his hands in hers. "Tell me, Kage-chan, what is your mother's name?"

"Hiei, the Ice Demon. Why?" Kage asked Ki, confused as to why she would ask about Hiei.

Ki started laughing and hugged Kage again. He liked her hugs. They were warm; not something he was used to.

"Kage-chan, you are going to see your father! Kurama-kun is your father! He is in Oxford right now, 'cus he wants to be a lawyer. Don't tell Hiei-san that I told you this, 'cus he'll have my head for it, but your father is a human with a Demon soul inside of him." She looked at the clock on the wall above Kage's head and her eyes widened.

"You should get back to Hiei-san! It is almost three in the morning. He will kill you if you are not where you are supposed to be. You should know that!" She wrapped him in another hug and continued: "Hopefully this will not be our last meeting, Kage-chan. I am going to go visit Kurama-kun soon, too. But I will be there before you guys, most likely, as I have powers neither of you do not." She released him and pushed him gently towards the door. "Bai bai, Kage-chan!" And Kage left, leaving the Water/Cat Demon alone in her house.

After Kage had left, two other figures appeared next to Ki.

"Who was that kid, Ki?" One of them, who had dark spiky, red hair asked her.

The other, who was taller than both Ki and the red-haired girl nodded and said: "He was Hiei's son."

"Really? …" The dark-haired one asked.

Kage made his way swiftly back to his mother's camp spot, just managing to make it look like he had been sleeping as Hiei got up and pushed him off of his tree.

"Time to get up, Kage. We head for Oxford." Kage followed Hiei mindlessly, his mind revolving around the new information he had learned. So his father was human. That was totally unexpected, considering his mother's view on the Humans. Why would Hiei even bother associating himself with his least favorite race? Then he remembered the other part of what Ki had told him.

_Kurama-kun has a Demon's soul._ Ki's voice told him again.

_Ah, so I am a bastard offspring…_ The thought made him angry. He stopped thinking at that moment, though, because what he saw next amazed him and confused him. Before him was a vast body of water. All he could see was glistening blue as far as his eyes could see.

Hiei saw his son's look of surprise and smirked.

"This, Kage, is what the Humans call the Atlantic Ocean. We do not have something like this in our world, as you know. There are new things every where. Now, we will cross it a little farther north. Our path is short, however, because we need only travel to the island of England." And off Hiei went again, leaving Kage to stand staring in awe at the Atlantic Ocean, until reality set back in and he was forced to catch up to Hiei.

Another couple hours later and Hiei was to be found in a back alley in Oxford, England, looking at a hastily scribbled address on a piece of paper in his hand. After getting his immediate bearings, he nodded to Kage, and headed off towards what he believed to be the correct destination.

He found a large populous of Humans in one area with multiple tall and ancient-looking buildings and assumed this was where he should be. He started looking for the address, and after he could not find it, he started walking along the streets between the buildings. People shot him and Kage strange looks. Hiei was unnaturally short and had jet black hair and red eyes, and Kage was covered from head to foot in a cloak, despite the sweltering heat. Finally, a girl of about sixteen years of age with purple hair came up to them and smiled.

"Do you need help, mister?" She asked Hiei in a soft voice. Kage looked at her in amazement. It was Ki, but in her human form.

As Hiei started shaking her head, Kage ran up to Ki and cried out: "Yes! Would you please help us, K—I mean, miss?" He looked over at Hiei who was staring at Ki.

Ki gave Kage a slightly irritated look before smiling at him and saying:

"Oh! What a cute child! Onee-chan, onee-chan! Come! Look at this adorable child!" A second girl, slightly taller than Ki, with spiky, crimson hair and black eyes came over to Ki and looked at Kage.

"I don't like kids. Why did you call me over, Ki? You should have called Yuna over." Ki gave her older sister the lower-lip look as she called another girl over. This lady was much older than the other two, with light blue, wavy hair that ended at the middle of her back. Her eyes were like ice and she had a small smile on her face.

"why," Yuna said, leaning down to get a better look at Kage, "what an adorable little Demon. Now, why don't we cover up those markings of yours so nobody pesters you like we have."

Hiei's eyes dawned in sudden realization. These three were the sister they had fought a long time ago, right before they had fought the Youkai Brothers. The two older ones were the more formidable of the two. The youngest one was just annoying. But what they would do to his son…he had no idea, and did not trust them, so he made to take his child away from them, but Yuna had already put her hand on Kage's forehead, enveloping him in a white light.

"What are you doing to him!" Hiei yelled, trying to grab Kage from Yuna unsuccessfully.

Hi smiled. "Don't worry your pretty little head, Hiei. She's just erasing his demon markings so he's not killed by the humans."

Yuna took her hand off Kage and smiled at him. "There, much better now." All the markings that had so recently covered Kage's whole body were now gone, and he looked like a simple six-year-old boy wearing a cloak. Kage took the cloak off and looked at his body, his eyes wide from looking at his arms that no longer had the black markings on them.

"How did you…" Kage whispered.

Yuna simply patted him on the head and said in a kind voice:

"That is my secret. The two of you should enjoy seeing Kurama-san again. Especially you, Hiei; you must miss him so. Now we must leave. Bai bai, dears." And she was gone in a gust of wind.

Hi gave a typical peace-sign and said: "I'm out of here!" And she was gone in a burst of fire.

Ki hung around for a little while, and gave Kage and Hiei a quick hug each. "Bai bai, Hiei-san and Kage-chan." She had to pick up her glass of water over at the table her and her sisters had been sitting at and touched the water. She liquidized her body and was gone.

"Kage, how do you know them?" Hiei gave Kage a look of death.

Kage whimpered and said in a hushed voice: "I…I met Ki at the hot springs of the village we stayed near last night. I was bored, so I started roaming."

"You will be punished…later." Hiei glared at Kage, then leaped on top of the building they were standing by and ran off down the rooftop, Kage forced to follow.

Finally, as Hiei was running along the rooftop, he spotted a flash of red hair coming from one of the windows below him. He knew it had to be Kurama, so he leaped on to the windowsill of the room where he had seen the red hair and looked in.

Sure enough, sitting at a desk with his back to Hiei, sat Shuichi Minamino, the Fox Spirit turned Human.

Hiei felt his heart beating faster at the sight of his friend, and wanted to yell out to Kurama, but he held the impulse and, instead, stepped into the room, walking softly over to where Kurama sat, working feverishly on something.

Hiei got right behind Kurama, and took his sword out of its sheath, putting it in front of Kurama's neck, as if to slit his throat.

"What's this, Kurama? The famous Demon Thief being caught off guard?" Hiei smirked.

Kurama gulped. He had not expected there to be someone trying to kill him in Ningenkai. He looked up ever so slowly as to make sure that the blade did not actually cut his throat, and into the eyes of his friend. His heart stopped racing as fast as it had been, and he moved the blade away from his throat.

"Hiei…" Kurama whispered, turning around to look at Hiei. "I…missed you." He leaped up and jumped Hiei, the both of them landing on the floor with a loud _THUMP!_

"Ow…" Hiei whimpered, rubbing the back of his skull. "Did you have to do that?"

Kurama smiled down at him and chuckled. "Yep. I'm _that_ glad you came." He leaned down and gave the Ice Demon a kiss on the lips.

"Where's our son?" Kurama asked, as he let the kiss go.

"He should be here in a while. He is so slow." Hiei huffed out of exasperation then turned his attention back on Kurama. "Hey, Kurama, did the three Demon sisters come visit you? We saw them hanging around this place. The oldest one took away Kage's demon-markings." Kurama raised and eyebrow in surprise.

"Yes, the little one, Ki, she came in to see me. She was, of course, bouncing off the walls (almost literally). However, I managed to get that you two were almost here out of her, before the Fire Demon came and took her away. She seemed so excited about seeing you and our little one. I wonder what they are planning." Kurama sighed. "Oh well."

Hiei looked up at Kurama and took Kurama's head in his hands, pulling it toward him. He then proceeded to kiss Kurama deeply and passionately.


	2. An Extra Special Night

What A Demon Child Wants

By: Kinoma Hinaguchi

Disclaimer: Kage-chan is mine. So are Yuna-senpai, Hi-kun, and Ki.-chan(me!) Now, the rest of the cast, including the two lovebirds (hee hee), are the sole property of Togashi-sensei. No stealing!

Another Note: This has yaoi (guy love) in it. I toned it down quite a bit from what I had, but it's still a bit strong, if you're not into the whole yaoi thing. However, I certainly recommend skimming down until you see the break in the page, because the rest of the chapter has important plot stuff with Kage-chan.

Chapter 2: An Extra Special Night

Kage looked around for his mother, finding him no where. He remembered where his mother had dropped down to, though, so it was only a matter of time until he hopped on to the windowsill of his father's dorm room.

What he found disgusted him.

A red-headed human was lying on top of his mother, kissing him. He hopped into the room and coughed loudly, trying to get their attention.

Kurama and Hiei both looked up at him and realized what they were doing. They moved away from each other and sat down on the floor.

Kage looked the red-headed human over. He had (of course) bright red hair, and his eyes were the color of emeralds. He had a serene smile on his face that almost looked overjoyed.

"Hello, Kage-san. I'm, well…I'm your father." Kurama bowed and looked at Kage to see his reaction. Kage simply bowed back and looked at his mother, who was staring at him.

Hiei turned to Kurama. "He's a little disorientated at the moment. I could still do a lot more with his training, but you wanted him, so he's all yours." Kurama nodded and turned back to Kage.

"Kage-san, why don't you go look around campus, you will be living here for a while, anyway." Kage nodded, used to taking orders. He went back over to the window sill, and was about to jump out, when he felt himself being pulled back in to the room.

"You'll have to do it the Human way, of course." Kurama said, holding back a chuckle. "That means no extreme speed, or anything your mother taught you, okay? Just walk, and let me keep your sword. You will not be needing it here." Kage was a little hesitant about giving up his sword, but gave in when Hiei nodded for him to do so. He threw it at Kurama and walked out the door at the other end of the room.

"He has your personality exactly, Hiei." Kurama chuckled. Hiei burned red and knocked the fox over again. This time, Hiei was on top.

"You'd expect him to be meaner after all I put him through." Hiei said, laughing, but not as hard as the man underneath him.

"Well, hopefully he'll enjoy it here a little more than the forests of Makai. Anyway, what do you say to maybe making him a younger brother or sister?" Kurama rolled on top of Hiei and started kissing Hiei's neck with gusto.

Hiei snarled and shoved Kurama off of himself. "No, I think not. I'm not getting pregnant again. We'll only do it if you're the one who gets pregnant."

"Well, that would work." Kurama said, looking thoughtful. "You'd just have to take the lead instead. Now," Kurama pulled Hiei back to his side, and resumed kissing Hiei's neck. Hiei moaned, but managed to pull away again, making Kurama look sad and irritated.

"Fine!" Hiei said suddenly, then he, taking a leaf out of Kurama's book, began to kiss Kurama's neck lovingly, saying: "Then I'll take the lead."

Far away from where Kurama and Hiei were making love to each other (both of them completely sober this time, perhaps a little drunk from their long time apart from one another), Kage was wandering the streets of the British college, glaring and staring in unison at the humans walking in a far berth of him, and the sounds and noises issuing from every corner of the pathways. He finally found himself in a small opening with a fountain in the middle of it, and a group of children around his age playing with a small red ball. Kage walked up a little closer to see what it was they were doing, and heard the outbursts of giggling and happy screaming coming from the boys and girls that were tossing the ball to one another.

After Kage had been watching the children for a few minutes, one of the little girls realized that he was staring at them, and called out to him over the din of her friends:

"Hi! Want to play with us?" She smiled and threw the ball (which had just recently been passed to her) at him, which he caught quickly with one hand, causing the now stopped children to give a hoot of surprise and joy.

Kage liked the feel of this small, rubbery ball under his fingers, and threw the ball back at the little girl. Unfortunately, he had no clue just how much stronger he was than the human children across from him, and the small ball ended up smacking the girl who had thrown it to him in the face, which caused her to fly about ten feet and land flat on her back with the ball in her face.

The other kids shrieked and turned to look at the utterly surprised Kage, who started backing up at the sudden on-rush of small children coming towards him.

Many of the children were yelling things like: "Monster!" or "What did you do?!" at him, as they came at him together. They finally caught up with him, and started berating him with the ball one of them had picked up off of the little girl's face; Kage flinching and crying for them to stop, but the children did not stop, and suddenly Kage could not think or feel anything any more, and he was burning with rage at the children who were attacking him for no reason.

His demon-markings reappeared on his tunic-garbed body and burned a bright red, and his usually black eyes burned a fiery red. A red aura glowed around his body and made the children around him be blown back from his body. A black sword with no hilt and no handle appeared in his hand, though it was more _like_ his hand, and he ran at the closest child, hacking them to shreds, until there was nothing left of him except a bloody mass of flesh and body parts.

The children ran and screamed, but Kage hunted down and killed every last one of them in cold blood, ending with the little girl who had originally thrown the four-square ball at him.

After his slaughter, he stood heaving heavily. His sword disappeared and suddenly his eyes were back to black, and his demon-marking faded against his skin. He was Kage again, with no recollection of what he had just done, but staring in scared amazement of the mass carnage surrounding him.

He ran. He ran back towards where his mother and father were sitting in his father's room, probably kissing again, not caring that their son had just seen a terrible act of murder worthy of a demon in front of his eyes, with no recollection of how the slaughter had occurred.

Finally he arrived at the windowsill of the dorm room and ran to his half-naked mother, crying hysterically and screaming about murder.

Kurama and Hiei were suddenly broken apart as the little demon latched onto the back of Hiei, who was so conveniently on top. Kage was screaming about someone being murdered, but everything he said was incoherent except the one word: "murdered!".

Hiei lurched forward at the impact of Kage on his back and immediately tried to force the small demon off of him. Kurama grabbed Hiei from behind and stopped him from pushing Kage off and instead reached for Kage, pulling him towards Kurama. Kurama wrapped the crying, screaming Kage in a comforting hug, and rocked back and forward, hushing the now only crying Kage, while Hiei sat against the wall, staring in disgust at his crying child.

Finally, after Kage was composed enough to speak, Kurama asked him what was wrong, and Kage explained what he had seen after passing out for a short amount of time.

After he was done, Kurama laid Kage down on the bed, and ushered Hiei to himself, motioning that they should go into the small bathroom attached to the main bedroom.

Once they were in there, Kurama turned to Hiei, looking serious.

"What do you think could have happened?" Kurama asked, wanting Hiei's opinion.

Hiei shrugged. "It was obviously the work of a cold-blooded killer. A strong one, considering the fact that none of the humans heard or saw the slaughter. What I find strange is that Kage did not see what happened. This sounds like some form of mind sorcery to me."

Kurama nodded slowly, taking everything Hiei was saying in stride.

"Hmm…whoever it was probably used some sort of sleeping spell on Kage-san; but why not just kill Kage-san, too?"

Hiei had a response ready for that: "Maybe they were only focusing on ningen." Kurama nodded once again.

"I just don't know how the humans will take this. The last large killing like this here hasn't been for a long time."

"Hmph." Hiei mumbled. "What do we care what the ningen think, anyway?"

"We care, Hiei," Kurama responded, giving his friend a knowing smile, "because this may affect Kage-san and myself."

"Oh." Hiei looked a little distraught now. "Well, maybe we should clear the bodies?"

Kurama shook his head.

"No, more than likely, some human has stumbled upon the corpses already. I'm sure we'll be hearing about it from my dormmates soon." Kurama gave a weak smile. "Not exactly the best thing to happen as soon as we're together again, ne?"

Hiei's only response was a low grumble. They both exited out of the bathroom quietly and dressed themselves in silence, exiting the dorm room through the door and making their way with the general on-rush of humans, which were all heading to the murder scene. They made their way to where the police and other emergency personnel were cleaning up the bloody mess left behind after the slaughter of the ten children.

Most of the bodies had already been taken care of; splotches of dark red left where their bodies had been. The humans in the crowd that was now gathered around the circular plaza were all crying or staring in awe of the carnage Kage had witnessed.

After a little while, the crowd started to disperse, and Kurama and Hiei went with them back up to Kurama's dorm room. By then it was late in the evening, and though neither of them had eaten since breakfast, neither was hungry, so they decided to go to sleep.

"Won't you share the bed, Hiei?" Kurama asked, changing into a pair of boxers.

Hiei (who was suppressing the urge to blush and kiss his friend) shook his head no and said: "No, I'll…sleep in the corner." He pointed to the corner of the room kiddy-corner to Kurama's bed.

Kurama sighed and shrugged. "Suit yourself, Hiei. What time are you leaving tomorrow?" Kurama knew Hiei would never stay longer than the task he needed to accomplish took.

"I'll be gone before you wake up; trust me." Hiei said, sitting down with his back against the wall, assuming his sleeping position.

Kurama nodded solemnly, then leaned down and gave Hiei a peck on the cheek. "Well, then I suppose I'll see you…when I see you." Kurama then proceeded to get in the bed with the sleeping Kage and soon drifted off to sleep, never aware that Hiei was staring with lust at his sleeping face.

Heh heh. I'm sorry for all of you who thought the killing of innocent children was a bit much. I probably should have used dogs, or at least adults, but I think I wanted to express how alone Kage feels and just how powerful he can be…if angered.

Well, anyway, enjoy this new chapter. I apologize profusely for taking so darn long in getting it up. I guess I just lost interest in the plot; but reading a few KuramaXHiei doujinshi (heh heh…) and wanting to read the series again sparked my desire again, so my readers got lucky!

Kinomachan


	3. Summonings

Chapter 3:

Chapter 3:

Kurama woke up to the feeling of someone shaking him and rolled over to meet a pair of icy-blue eyes framed by light blue hair.

"Ah!" Yuna exclaimed, ceasing her shaking. "You are finally awake."

Kurama sat up quickly and looked around. Hiei was being nudged in the chest by Hi's foot and Kage was sitting next to him staring at the sparkly-eyed Ki. Hiei automatically reached for his sword to find that it was not at his side but in the hand of Hi, who was taunting him.

"Ah ah ah. No attacking Koenma's messengers, Hiei." She laughed.

"Wait." Kurama said, a little more awake now. "Do you mean Koenma-sama sent you girls?"

It was Yuna who responded.

"Yes. He sent us here to tell you that he requests a meeting with the two of you, and your son."

Kurama's eyes widened. "Why would he want to see Kage-san?"

Hi shrugged. "We don't know. Koenma just told us to deliver the message and take you guys back to the underworld."

Kurama restrained Hiei from attacking Hi and responded:

"Do you have proof Koenma-sama actually sent you?"

Yuna nodded and pulled a rolled up sheet of parchment out of her outfit. Before she could hand it to Kurama, though, Hiei snatched it out of her hand and unrolled it. His eyes skimmed down the page and saw Koenma's seal. He then handed it to Kurama and said: "Read it." (Imagine all the others falling on their butts like in the manga and Hiei with an embarrassed look on his face.)

"Uh..sure." Kurama said, recovering.

"_Kurama, Hiei, and Kage:_

_As the three sisters will tell you, I request an audience._

_Someone's been causing a bit of disarray here in the underworld and in the human world and we need your guys' help._

_I'll give you more details when you get here._

_-Koenma_".

"Well, it certainly is Koenma-sama's seal." Kurama said, rolling the parchment back up. "We'll go, then."

Yuna smiled. "Good. We will await your presence near the shore of this country. We give you one hour." With that, the three of them were gone.

Hiei grabbed his dropped sword and looked at Kurama.

"Let's go." Hiei was about to jump out the window when Kurama pulled him back.

"What?!" Hiei snarled.

"We leave together." Kurama said. "Wait a few minutes."

Hiei grumbled but complied.

Kurama quickly moved around the room and collected a few things, finally putting a simple fighting outfit on and picking up Kage's sword.

"Here you are," Kurama said, handing the sword over to Kage. "Looks like you'll be needing it after all."

Kurama turned back to Hiei and smiled.

"_Now_ we can leave." Hiei sighed and made towards the window again, only to be pulled back, again.

"What is it _this_ time?!"

"We have to use the door so I can lock it, and the window."

Hiei grumbled. "Suit yourself, but I'm going this way. Come, Kage." He said by reflex; and by reflex, Kage followed after him.

Kurama sighed and shrugged then closed the window behind the two demons and exited the room, locking it with his room key.

He met them outside and they traveled to the designated meeting spot to find the three sisters near the water; Hi and Yuna watching Ki splash around in it.


	4. Kisses, Pools, and Murders

Disclaimer: Once more, I do not own any of the characters except the three sisters and Kage-chan, and perhaps Esmerel, if I decide to bring her back in to the series…oh, and Serenius. I love that name…Serenius…ah…

Chapter 4: Kisses, Pools, and Murders

Yuna smiled at the sight of the three male demons.

"Ah, I was afraid you would actually take until the end of the day. I suppose that I should have realized the impatience of Hiei." Hiei grumbled but said nothing. "Now, since neither of you can travel in the ways that my sisters and I can, we will take the same route that Hiei and the young demon child took. Please, follow us." Yuna glided towards the busy harbor that was a few miles away from their current location.

The five others followed her quietly, Kurama and Hiei wondering where the Ice Demon was leading them.

Finally they arrived in front of the dock of an enormous cruise ship, swaying softly on the waves.

"Ah, yes. I do believe this is our boat." Yuna said, smiling happily. "Please, come with me, or we will miss it." She walked off again.

"Wait!" Kurama said, running to catch up with Yuna. Yuna stopped and turned around, a questioning look in her eyes.

"Yes?" She asked simply.

"We're—we're taking a cruise ship? Why not just catch a small merchant ship?"

Yuna let out a small chuckle. "Dear, you have ladies with you now. You cannot expect us to travel in the murky depths of a filthy merchant ship." She walked off, leaving a still-confused Kurama standing, staring at her avidly. He finally shrugged and made to follow her.

The six of them went up to the place where they were letting the passengers on to the ship, but when it came to their time to be checked in, the man handling the tickets stopped Hiei and Kage in their tracks saying: "Oh, dear. I'm sorry, sirs, but we cannot allow you to carry weapons on board. I'm afraid you will have to let us put them under with the luggage."

Hiei growled angrily, and had half a mind to just kill the annoying human, when Kurama smiled kindly, putting himself between the human and Hiei.

"Oh! We're sorry, sir. They're foreigners, so they're not used to the customs here. Would you please tell us where we can check the swords in to the luggage?" The man nodded, apologized, then proceeded to give Kurama directions of where to go to check in Hiei and Kage's swords. After they had finished relinquishing their swords to another sailor, the six of them boarded the boat and proceeded to their designated rooms.

Kurama, Hiei, and Kage were to share a small suite, included with a small sitting room and a huge bathroom, while Ki, Hi, and Yuna shared a similar room.

The trip across the English Channel took all of a few hours, and the six demons found themselves on the harbor at Dunkirk. From there, they traveled until they were in the same forest that Kage had met Ki only a couple days prior. The six of them settled in to the small cabin that Ki had brought Kage into for the night. Hiei, refusing to sleep under the same roof as any of them, isolated himself in a tree nearby, and Ki went off to the same onsen she had used before to take a bath.

The four who were left said good night to one another and then went in to separate rooms. Kurama waited until Kage was fast asleep, then left quietly through the sole window in the room, planning to surprise Hiei.

As soon as Kurama was gone, Kage's eyes flicked open, and darted around the room, looking for any sign of the fox-demon's presence. When he saw that the coast was clear, Kage got up and jumped out the same window that his father had so recently exited. Kage made his way swiftly to the onsen, hoping that Ki would still be there.

When he finally got to the onsen, his heart lept for joy when he saw Ki's pale figure standing naked in the steaming water. Ki was in her human form, and the same sadness that had enveloped her when Kage and her had first met seemed to permeate from her once again.

When Kage started walking towards her, Ki looked up and gave a small smile to the little demon.

"Hello, Kage. Would you like to join me?" Kage nodded numbly, and took off his clothing, then jumped into the hot pool of water.

Ki hugged him close when he got in and then said in her same solemn voice: "How are you doing, Kage? I hear that you had quite the scare yesterday." Kage whimpered at the remembrance of the butchered bodies of all the human children, and dove his way further into Ki's chest. Ki hugged him even tighter and said softly:

"It's okay, Kage. Their souls will find peace, as should you. It was not your fault, so you should not be sad. How are you liking your father, Kage?"

Kage took his head out of Ki's breasts and looked up into her deep blue eyes. "I don't know. He's weak. I don't know why Hiei gets all…weird around him either."

Ki gave a smile of understanding and whispered, "They have been together for so long. Your mother has never known the kindness that Kurama gives to him, so he is filled with the lust that comes from love. And you should know that Hiei loves you, Kage, though he may not show it well."

"Do human mothers beat their children and leave them alone for months at a time? I never understood why Hiei hates me so much, but I know he does." Kage buried himself once again in Ki's breasts, and she looked up to the sky.

"Hiei is not the affectionate type, that is sure. But nonetheless, he shows his love for you in other ways."

"How?" The word was barely audible through the muffled voice of Kage.

"Well, for one, he hasn't killed you. The only people who anger him that he doesn't kill are Kurama, and those that Kurama protects from him. " Kage mumbled something else that was inaudible, and Ki chuckled sadly.

"Do not hate your mother. Be thankful that you have him, for not all demons know their parents that wish to know them, like you do."

Kage took his head out of Ki's breasts one more time and asked: "Did you know your mother, Ki?"

Ki never responded, but only gave him a sad smile and brushed a lock of Kage's hair off of his face.

Away from the onsen and the cabin, Kurama was walking through the forest, looking for Hiei. He didn't dare call out to Hiei, lest he run away, but he knew that he would find Hiei on the tallest tree in the forest, and there Hiei was, when Kurama leaped up to the topmost branch.

Hiei's eyes were closed, and he seemed to be sleeping, but when Kurama started walking towards Hiei along the branch, Hiei opened his eyes and glared at the sight of the fox-demon.

"What do you want, fox?" Hiei growled threateningly.

Kurama gave a sly smile, sitting down directly in front of Hiei, and said: "You." He leaned over and enveloped Hiei's lips in a warm kiss.

Hiei's immediate reaction was to push Kurama away, but Kurama held onto him with his hands and deepened the kiss. Hiei eventually succumbed to the taste of Kurama's hot tongue against the roof of his mouth and began to kiss Kurama back, pulling Kurama in closer to him so that Kurama was lying across Hiei.

And then Kurama's hands began to wander and Hiei could feel his body tingling from Kurama's piercing touch, now on his chest, then on his member. And each touch gave Kurama a desperate sigh from Hiei's lips, which made Kurama smile with satisfaction. He moved his tongue from inside Hiei's mouth down his neck, working his way down to Hiei's pulsating lower parts.

"Do you want it?" Kurama said softly, beginning to pull down Hiei's pants. Hiei nodded and let out a yelp of pleasure as Kurama's mouth enveloped him.

"Wa—waaaaaaaiiiiit…" Hiei moaned, and Kurama's tongue sunk him deeper into the never-ending abyss of pleasure. Kurama looked up at him and gave him a quizzical look as he continued to lick and suck.

"You…have…to be…the one…" Hiei moaned, trying his hardest not to thrust his member farther into Kurama's mouth. Kurama nodded and relinquished Hiei's penis, leaning back on his side of the branch so that a very flustered Hiei could access his own penis.

"Have you ever actually done this, Hiei?" Kurama asked in a mocking voice.

"Shut up! Of course not!" Hiei yelled, leaning in. "But you've done it to me enough that I should know how by now!" And he took Kurama inside his own mouth and Kurama immediately let out a long, deep moan of his own.

"Oh…lick it more, Hiei…yes, like that…" Kurama could already feel himself near an erection, but suddenly there was nothing there for Hiei to give pleasure to and in place of his member, Kurama found himself ejaculating out of a women's reproductive part.

"Ha!" Hiei said with a shout of joy. "Feel my pain, stupid fox!" And Hiei bent his own member down and without hesitation, shoved it straight into Kurama's new found vagina, causing Kurama to let out a shout of immense pain.

"Oh, God! Hiei, stop!" Kurama yelled, wrapping his arms around Hiei's shoulders and thrusting his body into Hiei's thrusts.

"Hell no, stupid fox. You get to be the woman this time!"

"Sorry if I'm ruining the moment, but…" came a sly, familiar voice. "But you're child seems to be missing and it would really rather suck if we left this place without him in a few hours."

Hiei stopped and both him and the fox demon looked down to see a smirking Hi staring up at them.

"But if you two would rather continue _whatever_ it is that you're doing…I can always tell Yuna that you're too busy to help search for your kid."

Hiei felt his cheeks go cherry red and whatever form of pleasure was going to come out of him melted away as he took himself out of Kurama and pulled his pants up, fastening them again and taking off with a muttered, "Damn you!"

Kurama also pulled his pants back on but didn't run off like Hiei. Instead, he jumped down from the tree and joined Hi where she was standing on the forest ground and said, "You enjoyed that, didn't you?"

Hi smirked and said through restrained fits of laughter, "Of course!"

Kurama glared, sighed, then started walking back towards the cabin, throwing freelance "Kage-san!"s out.


	5. Journey

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Same as last chapter. It gets boring saying it more than four times.

"Where the Hell were you?!" Ginny's angry voice resonated against the concrete walls as she cornered her terrified husband in the living room.

Harry held his hands up in surrender and shook his head.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! We just ran over our usual schedule. It won't happen again!" Ginny glared at him, whipped out her wand and cast her well-feared bat-bogey hex, causing Harry to fall to the floor with bat's flying out of his nostrils.

"Ow! Ow! OW!" Harry screamed until he managed to grab his own wand to counter-act the curse.

"Oi! That was uncalled for, Ginny!" Harry yelled, standing back up.

Ginny rounded on him so fast, Harry barely had time to hold up his wand in defense.

"You deserved that!" She yelled. "And let me tell you now, Harry Potter: I _will_ figure out what it is you really _have_ been doing on your Saturday nights, no matter what it takes. And when I do, not even the Healers will be able to fix you back right!" She stomped back up the stairs, sealing off the top of the staircase with the protection spell Harry had never learned the curse to get rid of.

Harry sighed and went into the den to fix the sofa bed up.

"I pray you never do, Ginny." He said before curling up on the thin mattress.

A week later found Ginny standing in the crowded elevator at the Ministry of Magic, waiting for her floor. As it stopped at floor three, a stag shaped paper caught her eye as it flew into the elevator to hover above the passengers' heads. She cautiously looked at the other witches and wizards then quickly summoned the paper to her and shoved it into her robe. When floor four came, she stepped out and immediately walked to her cubicle, closing the shutter door she had installed some years back and sitting down on her chair.

She opened the invoice to find her husbands untidy scrawling blotted hastily down on it.

D.M.

Can't make it this weekend. Dinner party by the wife. I'll let you know if I can make it up Sunday. Don't reply; too risky.

H.P.

Ginny stared at the initials at the top of the page. This was most definitely initials she should know, but it was such a long time that she had really paid any attention to anyone's name that it took her all of ten minutes to finally come to the conclusion that the only person on the fifth floor (the floor it had been addressed to) that had the same initials as the one on the paper was Draco Malfoy. But what would Harry be doing with someone like Malfoy. They had never really spoken much to each other since the Dark Lord's defeat, and they still glowered at each other whenever they did happen to catch each other's eye.

Ginny's mind was never really on her work that day, and as she got home and began preparing their dinner for two, she had formulated a plan that may or may not give her the answers she had been longing for since Harry started his Saturday night escapades.

"Hello?" Ginny said into the empty, dusty kitchen.

There was a shuffling of feet and suddenly a tall, lithe woman was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, glaring down at Ginny's floating head in her fire.

"What do _you_ want?" Pansy Malfoy asked, turning to leave again.

"Wait! I…I wanted to ask you a few questions about Malfoy. It seems our husbands have been having secret meeting with each other…"

Pansy's shrewd face turned around, one eyebrow raised in slight interest.

"Has…has Malfoy been going out a lot on Saturday nights, you know, 'to the pub'." Ginny sighed the last part of the sentence.

Pansy nodded solemnly.

"What's your point, Potter? You better tell me quick, or I'm telling your boss you pop up unwanted in peoples' fireplaces."

Ginny rolled out her proposal so quickly, Pansy had to ask her to say it again.

"I intercepted a message from my husband yesterday telling your husband that they couldn't meet each other this Saturday because I'm throwing a dinner party that night. I didn't let the message reach your husband because I wanted to talk to you about my plan.

"I think we should go there that night, one of us pretending to be my husband, and see what they do, that way we'll both know the truth, and we can decide what to do about it then. What do you say?" Ginny said, breathless, looking up at the somewhat screwed-up face of Pansy.

Pansy held her breath for a couple minutes before responding:

"I'll…go along with your plan, only because I've also noticed a difference in my husband. I'll play the part of your husband, though, because I would probably be able to handle almost any situation they get into better than you, since I know Draco better. I've definitely noticed that Draco seems…how to put it…_put out _when I suggest having sex, like he has someone else he'd rather do it with, so I suggest you mentally prepare yourself for _any_ possibilities, Potter."

Ginny's eyes grew wide at this particular statement and she thought back to the last time she had had sex with her own husband; he had seemed distracted, like he wasn't really into her, but thinking of someone else. What if it was because he _was_ doing Malfoy instead…she shuddered at the thought, causing Pansy to chuckle.

"We'll meet here at around nine o'clock Saturday night; that's normally when Draco leaves. I don't know how you're going to excuse yourself from your own dinner party, but I suggest you figure something out, or Potter might get suspicious."

Ginny nodded numbly and pulled her head out of the floo network and back into her own kitchen.

The night of the dinner party came, but Ginny was distracted as she entertained and prepared dinner for her family, Hagrid, and the rest of their relatives and close friends. She hardly even heard her mother's constant worrying at her heels about how to cook this, or how to prepare that.

As the clock ticked closer to nine o'clock, Ginny grew more and more nervous. Her eyes kept wandering over to Harry, wondering if he sensed that she knew something was up between him and Malfoy; if he had ever even considered that she might find out his secret.

She talked and laughed half-heartedly with George and Ron, trying to seem like she was into their conversation about George's latest Weasley Wizard Wheezes' product, but she kept glancing at the clock, willing the time to somehow move faster so that she could finally find out the truth behind her husband's Saturday nights.

And finally it was only two minutes before nine o'clock, and she was excusing herself from George and Ron's company, on the lie that she had to use the restroom. She half ran up the stairs to her bedroom, swiftly but silently closing the door.

She turned around, grabbed a small pinch of floo powder from its canister next to their fireplace, and tossed it into the newly created fire, then jumped in after it, calling for the Malfoy residence.

And suddenly she was staring Pansy Parkinson back in the eye once more, sitting across from her in a highbacked, wooden chair next to a wooden table in the undusted kitchen.

"So…do you even know where they meet each other?" Pansy asked.

Ginny shook her head sheepishly. "I…know it's a long shot, but we could try the Leaky Cauldron. Perhaps that part of their story is true. Do you have the Polyjuice?"

Pansy nodded and sighed. "You Weasleys really are worthless. Give me Potter's hairs." She held out her hand, ignoring the glare she was receiving from Ginny.

Ginny put the few strands of Harry's black hair into her upheld palm, watching as Pansy threw them into a cup full of Polyjuice Potion, shuddered with disgust, and then swallowed it in one gulp. Then Ginny was seeing the twin of her husband appear before her eyes.

"We should have enough for at least three hours in my robes. Let's hope that's enough." The dulcet tones of Pansy Parkinson somehow rang through the more cheery voice of Harry Potter.

Ginny simply nodded and followed her husband's shadow out of the house, grabbing his arm, too distracted and weak to attempt apparition right now.

"Do you see him?" Ginny said, sitting at a table behind the fake Harry, wearing a hooded robe to make sure she was not noticed by anyone.

Pansy responded after a few minutes. "Yes…there he is. He's winking at me and nodding towards the door. Wait a couple minutes before you follow us out. Bye." He got up and walked out into the alley behind the Leaky Cauldron, catching Draco by the elbow before he disapparated.

"Why don't we try somewhere…different tonight?" Pansy said, smiling smugly, hoping she wasn't too obvious.

"Why?" Draco said, suspicious. "Is the Shrieking Shack not enough for you any more, _Potter_?" He pulled his elbow roughly out of Pansy's grip.

Pansy gave a mocking smile and said, "No, no…I just wanted to see if you were…_up_ to something a little different."

Draco raised one eyebrow. "Like what?" He asked.

"No, no. The usual place is fine. We'll try the other place later. See you there in a bit." And she disapparated without another word, finding herself inside the unbearably horrid-looking confines of Remus Lupin's old prison. She followed what she hoped was the path to their usual room, looking for any changes from the usual drab and havoc that was this building, until she heard Draco's soft steps behind her and she turned around.

"Well, come on, then, Malfoy. I have to get back before the wife gets angry again." She gave Harry's kind face another mischievous smile, which seemed to only encourage the blonde-haired man at the foot of the rickety staircase. Suddenly it was Draco who was leading, which was exactly what Pansy had wanted. As she followed Draco into the fixed-up bedroom, she softly whispered her Patronus into life and sent the message off to Ginny; to tell her where they were then she followed Draco into the room, to find him standing next to the bed, undressing himself.

"So…what are we doing tonight, Potter?" Draco asked, smiling as he let his large cock out of his underpants.

"We'll…let you decide tonight, Malfoy." She heard Potter's voice say silkily.

"Being nice, are we?" Draco smirked, using his finger to slowly circle the tip of his cock.

Pansy smiled. "You could say that." And she stripped off the borrowed black robes and felt strangely satisfied as she saw the large cock of her husband's newest lover bounce out of Harry's underpants.


	6. Serenius

Author's Disclaimer: meh. Ownage, blah blah blah. Don't take Hi, Yuna, Ki, or Kage, or ninjas will come for you in your sleep. Enjoy the especially long chapter, and check Kuwabara's first name for me, please. I'm going by memory, and laziness.

Chapter 6: Serenius

Kage watched the events play out from his place on the bed. He always got kind of sad when Ki changed back to her demon form. He loved the way she acted when she was in her human form. He thought that that must be what it'd be like to have a loving mother, instead of his own mother. Ki was so warm and soft to the touch, and so _kind_ to him. He wanted to be only with her, and wanted the others to disappear, especially his father.

Eventually, Kurama dragged an enraged Hiei into the bedroom and forced him onto the bed, using one of his plants to tie Hiei to the bed next to Kage. Kurama then settled into a corner of the room, sitting on top of Hiei's sword and scabbard and laying his rose whip across his lap as he closed his eyes in an attempt to sleep.

Kage moved farther away from his mother, and then closed his own eyes to sleep.

It seemed that he had just closed his eyes when he was being jerked awake by a firm hand.

He opened his eyes to see two red ones smirking down on him.

"I see you had to use force, fox." Hi said, snickering as she looked over at the still struggling Hiei on the bed.

Kurama sighed and muttered the release for his delicate plant, letting a furious Hiei loose. He immediately put a hand on Hiei's sword to protect everyone from Hiei's wrath, which only made Hiei angrier. Hiei jumped out of the window, shouting curses and that was the last of him Kurama saw until they reached the Reikai.

"Ah…Kurama-sama. Yes yes. Koenma-sama is eager to see you and your son. Where be Hiei-sama, though?" The oni servant asked, looking around.

Kurama shook his head. "I'll find him later. When will Koenma-sama see us?"

The oni gave a surprised look then said, "Tomorrow morning. He is quite busy, of course, but he will put forth time to speak to the three of you on the morrow. Yes yes. We will be showing you to your rooms now; you and the young ladies."

Kurama nodded and the group followed the oni up the long, gilded staircase up to the second floor and then along to the end of the well-decorated hallway to a big round door on the left.

"This will be being the young ladies room. Koenma-sama thanks you for your services to the Underworld and will see you in a few days time for the reward you will be wanting, yes yes." The oni bowed then motioned for Kage and Kurama to follow him back up the staircase.

The men's room was on the third floor in a suite that had high-vaulted ceilings and a floor-to-ceiling window that looked out on the gardens Kurama liked so much. The bed was big enough for four people to sleep on comfortably, and Kurama was enthralled to find a humongous bathtub in the luxurious bathroom. He immediately set to turning on all the faucets and letting the bathtub fill up with bubbly, fine-smelling water.

He turned around to find Kage perched upon the windowsill like his mother so many years ago, and Hiei nowhere to be found. He sighed, fixed a smile on his face, and walked up to his son.

"Kage-san, would you like to take a bath with me?"

Kage looked up at his father and shook his head.

"We…never took baths when we were still in the Makai, Father. Why would I do it here?"

"It's fun here." Kurama smiled again, and pulled Kage towards him with his hands. "Come on. I'll show you." And Kurama took Kage into his custody, undressing him and throwing him into the big lake of bubbly goodness.

Kage's first reaction was panic, then confusion, then joy. He liked how the bubbles stayed everywhere he put them, slowly disappearing and running down his body. He looked up to find his father staring at him, a look of happiness on his face.

"See," Kurama said, laughing, "I told you you'd like it." Then he suddenly picked up a handful of the bubbles and attempted to toss it at Kage, who went to dodge before he realized the bubbles were never going to reach him, as they hadn't gotten more than a couple inches from Kurama before they fell back down to meet the colonies of other bubbles.

After their bath, Kage stretched like a cat on the giant, king-sized bed, then curled up into a ball and went to sleep.

Kurama smiled to see his son so relaxed. He leaned down and gave Kage a small kiss on his forehead then turned towards the windows.

"Now to bring our wayward mother home." He whispered, jumping off the windowsill into the density of the gardens.

He found Hiei in his usual tree, feigning sleep against the big, round trunk of his favorite redwood. Kurama called up to him, with no response.

_At least he didn't run away_. Kurama thought, hopping up on to the opposing branch of another tree then landing lightly on Hiei's branch. He sat down and waited patiently for Hiei to say something.

After what seemed hours, Hiei finally opened his eyes and growled out a: "What do you want, stupid fox?"

"Are you going to come back to the room?"

Silence.

"Okay…are you still upset about what Hi-san did back in Europe?"

Silence.

"Right, I figured. Well, so you know, I didn't think it was right either. But you have to let it go. It's pointless to get upset over something you have no control over."

Silence again.

"Am I going to have to molest you?"

Hiei glared.

"Go away, stupid fox." His hand slowly went to his sword, still attached to his waist.

Kurama sighed and shook his head sadly. "Okay, I'll leave you alone for tonight, but eventually, we _will_ continue what Hi-san cut off. Good night." Kurama leapt off the bow, made to leave, then turned back, having thought of something else.

"Oh, and if you could reconcile with your child…he's still rather confused by your fury." Then he left, going back to his room, and laying down next to his son, who was snoring softly.

The next morning, Hiei found himself looking into the red eyes he loathed so much, but he didn't even bother to attack them this time.

"If you have something to say, say it, or be gone, stupid bitch."

Hi pulled back, standing upright on the branch of the redwood.

"Hmmm…" She looked down at him, a curious expression in her eyes.

"Well?" Hiei grunted.

Hi ran a long-fingered hand through her spiky hair, turned around, and jumped of the branch, running off towards the Reikai palace.

Hiei closed his eyes again and waited for the stupid fox to come get him, as he knew he would.

Five seconds later, he opened his eyes to find the earthen floor of the forest quickly rising up to meet him, and shifted his body so that he would land on his feet instead of his head.

"Oi!" He exclaimed, looking around for his perpetrator. Hi came to the ground laughing, and said,

"You…were…ha ha…supposed to…ha…follow me…stupid…" She ran off again before Hiei had a chance to retaliate in any way. He glared after her for a couple seconds then ran after her.

Hi led Hiei to the palace and into Koenma's audience room. Kage and Kurama were sitting on one of the soft blue sofas that covered the white walls.

Koenma was sitting behind his desk, sucking on his stupid pacifier, nearly obscured by the towers of paper around him.

"Ah…" Koenma said, looking up at Hiei's arrival. "Sit down, Hiei. We need to talk about your next mission. Yusuke and Kuwabara should be here shortly. We had Botan provide them ferry-service."

Hiei moved to the only window in the room and crouched down on the nearest sofa.

"Thank you, Hi." Koenma said, dismissing the fire demon still standing in the doorway.

Hi smirked and left in a puff of smoke and fire.

Right after she had left, Yusuke and Kuwabara came brawling through the doorway, screaming and yelling at each other.

Koenma cleared his throat and Yusuke and Kuwabara separated. Kuwabara had two black eyes and a broken lip, and Yusuke had a few bruises on his face.

Kuwabara rubbed the back of his head in humiliation and said, "Sorry, Koenma-sama."

"What was it this time?"

"We just wanted to see who was stronger. Ya know we haven't seen each other in, like, six years."

Yusuke nodded his consent and Koenma rolled his eyes.

"Anyway," Koenma started again while the two miscreants took their seats next to Kage and Kurama.

"We have a state of crises on our hands. The oldest of the Youkai Brothers that you guys killed off six years ago has come back. He's made a demand for someone's head and is killing off small groups of humans until he gets it."

"Whose head does he want?" Kurama asked.

Koenma's eyes lingered on Kage for a few seconds before he turned them on Kurama and answered:

"The head of the most fearsome demon in all of Makai, he says. We have been swarmed with lesser demons swearing it is them he wants, and demanding to fight Serenius. Now, what we're really concerned with is the S-class and up demons that are remaining silent. We need to get rid of this fool before he sets the whole of Makai on himself.

"Now, we are trying to locate him right now, but it's rather difficult what with his ability to teleport. But I'm sure if we send him a challenge he'll be more than willing to meet his old acquaintances. We'll let you know when he responds. Until then, you'll help with the border control. Some of our lesser demons are sure to realize their mistakes when they see you guys coming towards them. You're dismissed until further notice."

All of them filed out until Koenma was left by himself in the room. A pink-haired woman appeared out of no where and asked:

"Should we tell them?"

"Not yet, Botan. They wouldn't believe us anyway. He's just a boy. There's no way he can be the one Dad foretell of."

"That's what you said about Yusuke, and look what happened to him." Botan said.

Koenma put his cute little head in his chubby hands and muffled out "I know."

"So this is your kid, Kurama?" Yusuke Urameshi asked holding out a hand to Kage. Kurama nodded.

Kage sniffed it and recoiled, causing Yusuke to withdraw it and smell it himself.

"Not much of a talker, is he?" Yusuke intoned.

"No. That came with being with Hiei for six years. You know how he is."

"Ha ha. Of course."

"Well, what's 'is name?" Kuwabara asked, leaning down to squint at the now retreating Kage.

Kurama reached back and grabbed Kage by the wrist, pulling him back to his side.

"His name is Kage. Kage, say hello to your father's teammates. This is Yusuke Urameshi, and this is Kazuma Kuwabara." Kage glared at each in turn, trying to slither out of Kurama's grasp.

"Nice ta meetcha." Kuwabara said, smiling his dorky smile.

Yusuke nodded and said, "Speaking of Hiei, where is the bastard?"

Kurama looked around. "Probably in his tree. He's still brooding over what Hi did to us."

Yusuke snickered. The fire demon had been all too willing to share her great exploit with the two members of the Urameshi team that had not been there to enjoy it.

"Well no wonder. He's probably dying of embarrassment still." Yusuke giggled.

"Let's not speak of it anymore, please." Kurama said, glaring. "How are Yukina-san and Keiko-san doing?" Kuwabara got beet-red at the mention of Yukina's name, but Yusuke just shrugged.

"Eh. She won't let us do it 'til we get married, but she doesn't want to get married 'til she gets outta college. I'm dyin' a virgin, man. No way she'll finish before Koenma gets me killed."

Kuwabara chose to remain silent, though he muttered a very indistinct "fine" before running off steaming.

Kage was still trying to escape from Kurama when Kurama was suddenly plowed into by a purple-haired cat demon, which, in essence, made it impossible for him to keep his hold on Kage as he was now fighting for air.

But Kage didn't want to leave any more because Ki was there.

Kurama disentangled himself from Ki's grasp and held her away from him while he gasped for air.

"Kurama-kun!" Ki squealed, trying to attack the poor red-head once again.

"Ki…" Kage said in a voice that was just above a whisper.

Ki turned around, saw Kage, and ran over only to jump on him, causing the both of them to fall over onto the ground.

Yusuke frowned.

"I didn't know they were so close."

"They're not." Kurama answered, straightening himself.

"Then why is she attacking him like she does you?" Yusuke pondered.

"She's taken a strange liking to him on our trip. After…what Hi did, we found the two of them in an onsen with each other. He seems to be rather fond of her himself."

"Oh." Yusuke said. "Well, I should probably go to my shift for border patrol, or I'll never hear the end of it from the Baby-sama." Yusuke gave a peace-sign then ran off, leaving Kurama alone with the still-glomping duo.

"Well, I'm off. Good luck, Kage-san." Kurama ran off after Yusuke, leaving his son to the whims of the benevolent Ki.

Ki got up and asked, "How are you, Kage-chan?!"

Kage sat up, gasping for breath as his father had done.

"I'm…all right. Why do you…do that?" Kage said between gasps.

"Do what?" Ki asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Jump on people." Kage said.

Ki giggled. "Oh." She said. "'Cause it's fun."

It was Kage's turn to say "oh."

"Let's go play! Let's go play!" Ki said, pulling Kage to his feet.

"O…okay." Was all Kage could get out before he was dragged bodily away.

Kurama walked through the forest to Hiei's redwood, wondering if he would be able to convince the fire/ice demon to sleep in the room tonight. When he got within a yard of the tree, he was jumped again.

"Ki!" Kurama shouted, pulling the person off him and throwing them to the ground.

"Stupid fox." Hiei grunted, pulling Kurama down to him by the front of his shirt.

"Oh, it's you, Hiei."

"Yes, it's me. Now be a nice stupid fox and do that…that…" Hiei looked away, the heat rising to his face.

Kurama smiled, surprised by Hiei's brashness.

"You mean this, right?" Kurama said, cupping the front of Hiei's breeches in his hand. "You're already hard." He said, using his other hand to unlace Hiei's pants. "Were you thinking of me?" He popped the erection into his mouth, smiling at its immediate reaction.

Hiei moaned.

It only took a few minutes before he ejaculated into Kurama's mouth.

"We should move to the room." Kurama said, wiping cum from his face.

Hiei nodded dully, panting from exertion.

The two of them walked to their room, closing the curtains and locking the doors when they got there.

They stripped and hopped onto the bed, Hei immediately going for the goal. Kurama gave a yelp of surprise and ecstasy as Hiei thrust himself into Kurama.

"Not…so fast…" Kurama moaned.

Hiei smirked and went even faster, gaining the cry he wanted from the fox demon.

Afterward, Hiei stayed, letting Kurama rest his head on Hiei's chest. Kurama was so happy, he couldn't stop smiling. It was rare for Hiei to even join in on the sex, nonetheless stay after it had been done. He put his hand against his stomach, trying to sense his child's chakra. There wasn't any. He smiled and looked up at Hiei.

"We're gonna have to do it again. I'm not pregnant."

Hiei glared down at him.

"Then let's do it, stupid fox."


	7. The Night Before

Disclaimer: I'm on a roll! Cranking out three chapters and probably more to come. I've been doing this instead of paying attention in class, but it's more entertaining. .

Anyway, ownage crap, blah blah. I love yaoi. ^_^ Oh, and will someone let me know if I got the name of Koenma's father right. I'm pretty sure it's right, but once again, laziness…

Chapter 7: The Night Before

Ki was hiding. Hiding and giggling to herself.

She could hear Kage move towards her hiding spot and stifled a giggle as he passed it. He came back again and this time Ki couldn't stop her giggles. Kage turned and jumped on her. They rolled around laughing until the base of a pine tree stopped them. Kage looked up to find Yuna and Hi walking towards them. Kage jumped up and stood aside as Ki jumped up too.

"Good afternoon, Kage, Ki." The blue-eyed, blue-haired Yuna said, smiling serenely.

"Senpai!" Ki hugged Yuna tight. Yuna smiled and hugged her back.

"It's time for our shift, Ki." Hi said, staring at Kage.

"But Ki's playing with Kage-chan!" Ki whined.

Hi turned her eyes back to Ki and said, "Should I call Miki?"

Ki's eyes went wide and she cried, "No! No! Don't go call Miki-chan!"

Hi smirked. "Then come with us, Ki. Or Miki will hear about this."

Ki's head went limp. "Okaaaay…"

"Ki…" Kage said, tugging on the end of Ki's pink dress.

"Yes, Kage-chan?" Ki turned, smiling again.

"Who's Miki?"

"Oh." Ki said, looking back at Yuna and Hi. "She's Ki's other self."

"You mean the Ki I first met?"

"No no." Ki shook her head. "Miki shares a soul with Ki. But she's mean to Ki. So Senpai and Oneechan keep her here." She patted her chest.

"How did they do that?" Kage asked, confused.

"We made the soul whole." Yuna said. "Now, come Ki. You can play with Kage later." Yuna turned around and walked off.

"Bai bai, Kage-chan!" Ki exclaimed hugging him again then bounding off after Yuna.

"See you later." Hi waved then burst into flames.

Kage sat down again, thinking to himself, "She's even stranger than Hiei."

The days came and went, until a month later, Koenma called them back. They all sat around the room, waiting for Koenma to speak.

"Right," he started. "So, Serenius has gladly consented to the meeting. He's even consented to meet in an unpopulated area of the Makai, so we can keep casualties down. Now, he specifically asks that all attend the meeting, including myself, so we'll leave tomorrow morning for the Makai. That's all. I suggest you touch up your techniques; we'll need all the strength we can muster if we are to take this guy out."

"Why did he ask for you?" The ever-curious Kurama asked.

"Hmm…" Koenma muttered. "I'll tell you afterward. If there is an afterward."

Kurama nodded. They all filed out again, including Hi, Yuna, and Ki, but Koenma called Yuna back.

"How may I be of service, Koenma?" Yuna asked as soon as everyone else was gone.

"Botan and I both know that you know what the child is. What we ask of you is what do you suggest we do about it? If we kill him before he becomes aware of what he is, we'll have Kurama and Hiei on us. But if we wait…"

Yuna nodded solemnly. "Ki…" That was all she said before she disappeared in her gust of wind.

"Gah!" Koenma banged his fist against his desk, causing some of the papers to fall off their precarious stacks. Botan patted him on the shoulder.

"She knows what she's doing, Koenma-sama. She has the full support and trust of Enma-sama."

"I know, I know. I just wish they'd let me in on it."

"Hiei."

"What?"

"May I leave?"

"Where?"

Kage looked down, abashed. He knew Hiei wouldn't care about Kage's desire to see Ki.

"Where?" Hiei said again, irritated.

Kurama came to his rescue. "He wants to see Ki. It's okay, Kage-san. You're free to go."

Kage remained where he was, staring ardently at Hiei, until Hiei finally waved him off, looking at Kurama with a death-look.

Kage jumped out the window and was gone.

"What did I do?" Kurama said, confused.

"Get on the bed, stupid fox." Hiei said, going around the room, closing things and locking the doors. (Oh ho! We all know what's happening now!)

"Oh." Kurama exhaled, sitting on the bed.

After he was done, Hiei came back to the bed and pushed Kurama into a lying position. He then began kissing Kurama's neck, unbuttoning his vest to expose Kurama's pale skin underneath. He moved down the neck to the chest, nibbling here, licking there, driven on by Kurama's gasps of pleasure. He leaned back and yanked down his pants, doing the same to Kurama. And in one quick thrust he was inside and pounding hard.

"Hiei!" Kurama yelled, thrusting his own pelvis up to meet Hiei's thrusts. Hiei quickly put his hand over Kurama's mouth, looking around. Kurama looked up, confused. Hiei shook his head and continued his thrusting. Kurama let out another moan and pulled Hiei towards him, taking his mouth in his own.

They came, and applause was heard behind them.

"You know," Hi said, walking towards the two of them. "Yuna told me to stop the two of you from having sex, but I'm rather curious to see what other hellspawn you guys can breed. Besides, I get to watch my own porno." She smirked.

Hiei was seething. He had pulled out of Kurama and was reaching for his sword when it disappeared under his hand.

"I'm not here to fight, Hiei." Hi said, twirling the sword in her hands.

"Then why _are_ you here, Hi-san?" Kurama said, pulling the seething Hiei back to him. Hiei became somewhat docile under Kurama's touch, but he was still shaking from rage.

"Just to let you know something no one else will tell you. Your son was the one who killed all those children at Oxford. And to hear Koenma and Yuna talking, he'll do more than just that if he's given the opportunity. They're even considering killing him to stop the destruction. Serenius wants your son killed, too. That's why he's killing the humans."

"Why should we believe you?" Kurama challenged.

Hi shrugged. "Never said you had to. I just thought it would be fun to let you guys in on the big secret. See y'all tomorrow. Toodle-loo." And she was gone just as suddenly as she had appeared.

Kurama looked down to find Hiei in deep thought.

"What are you thinking, Hiei?"

Hiei looked up. "I think she's right."

Kurama's eyes widened.

"When Kage was a baby, he was already a master of his element. He killed a whole group of demon trash before he could walk, and then another only about two years ago. When I asked what had happened afterwards, he had no recollection of it, even after I beat him bloody."

Kurama let go of Hiei and turned away.

"I can't believe that Kage is that dangerous, though. His chakra is so small."

"I suppose we'll find out." Hiei said, getting up to leave.

Kurama reached out to him. "Stay." He whispered.

Hiei looked at Kurama for a full minute before he let the pants he had been pulling on fall back to the ground. He wordlessly got back in the bed and laid down with his back to Kurama.

Kurama lied down next to him and went to sleep.


	8. Meeting

Disclaimer: What will happen to Kage-chan! O.o Let's find out…

P.S.= Me no ownies the Yu Yu Hakusho peeples. But Ki, Kage, Hi, Yuna, and Serenius are mine.

Chapter 8: Meeting

The next morning, Yuna and Hi stood outside the Reikai Palace using their teleportation techniques to transport the members of the Urameshi team, Koenma, and Ki to the agreed-upon meeting place.

Once they were all there, they waited.

Five minutes past the assigned time, the air moved like the glare on bare metal and the silver-haired, silver-eyed demon appeared, floating in mid-air and wearing a blue satin robe with buttons down the chest to just above his navel and matching satin slippers.

"Good afternoon. What an entourage that has come to see me. But where is the child?"

Kurama answered. "We'll let him come out once we know exactly what you want of him."

Serenius frowned. "I thought I had made that quite clear. We must kill him before he kills us."

Ki freaked out and started running at Serenius, but Hi caught her.

"Calm down, Ki!" Hi scolded.

"But he said he was going to kill Kage-chan! He's mean! Kage-chan can't be bad, he's nice to Ki!" Ki cried.

"He's not talking about Kage. Calm down."

Yuna stepped forward, saying, "Ki, why don't you come play with Kage and let Miki come out. We'll be done with Serenius soon, and you can play with Kage some more."

"Yay!" Ki jumped up and down in joy.

Yuna pulled a diamond-shaped crystal out of her hand and put it to the demon-markings on Ki's forehead. Ki disappeared and Yuna put the crystal back into the palm of her hand. Just as she was doing this, a cat-like creature with short angel wings appeared out of thin air. She had the same demon-markings as Ki on her long forehead and under her overly large, light blue eyes.

"Hello, Miki." Yuna said.

"Hello, Yuna. Who's this prat?" She pointed a long claw at Serenius.

Hi smirked.

Serenius smiled serenely down at the cat-creature and said amiably, "My name is Serenius, my good lady. And may I ask your name?"

Miki looked nonchalantly up at Serenius and responded, "The name's Miki. But you'll call me Lady Macarius. Ki's stupid nickname is for Ki only."

"A pleasure, I'm sure." Serenius responded. "Now, are you going to give me what I asked for, or will I have to continue killing the humans?"

Yuna looked at Koenma and Koenma nodded.

"I will discuss our terms, as I have the least bias in this situation. Hi, if you would be so kind as to take the rest of the group home, including yourself?" Hi nodded.

"All right, munchkins. One at a time." Hi grabbed the nearest person, which just happened to be Kurama and disappeared.

Once everyone was gone but Miki, Yuna, and Serenius, Yuna sat down on a cushion of air.

"May we speak on level terms?" She said.

Serenius lowered himself so he was hovering on a level with Yuna.

"I apologize for my rudeness."

"Not at all." Yuna said, smoothing out the ruffles in her long blue dress. "Now, shall we discuss the matter at hand?"

"I must tell you now, my lady, that I will not be assuaged from my original purpose. I mean to see this child dead." Serenius let his smile drop. He was all business now.

"We have no intentions of denying you of what you want, Serenius. Only, we have a different idea of the means to see the child's destruction through."

Serenius raised an eyebrow. "And, pray tell, what would this be?"

"Miki." Yuna turned her ice-blue eyes to the cat-demon.

"If you'd paid any real attention to the prophecy," Miki started out, "then you'd remember there was a person prophesized to stop the demon meant to bring destruction to the three worlds."

"And you believe you have found this person, may I be content to believe this?" Serenius pondered.

Yuna nodded, but waited patiently for Miki to continue.

"Yep. We got her. My other self. Ki. She will soften his heart and control him through love. Sounds cheesy, I know, but it's working. Already his powers are diminishing."

"How do you know this for certain?"

"I have his power in me." Miki concluded. "Feel it for yourself if you don't believe me. Go on, try it."

Serenius held out a hand and Miki put her tail in it.

Serenius closed his eyes for a moment then opened them wide. "It is true."

Yuna smiled. "You see: we have nothing to be concerned with as long as Ki remains with Kage."

Serenius countered with, "But what if they separate?"

Yuna's smile dropped. "Right now…he'll rampage, but the more they are together, the more Miki will absorb his power."

"And Lady Macarius won't be able to use this power to the same means?"

Miki shook her head. "No. I consume it and shit it out like I would a meal."

"So it goes into the air?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Miki peered at Serenius curiously.

Serenius seemed to be swallowing everything rather well. He looked up after a few minutes and said in a steady voice, "Very well. I will put off my headhunt for now. But you will have to ensure me occasionally that you are doing everything in your power to keep the young Ki and the child together."

Yuna nodded solemnly. "You have our word."

Miki intoned, "Yeah. Our word."

Serenius renewed his serene smiled and bowed. "'Twas a pleasure speaking with you, ladies. May our next meeting be under more pleasant circumstances." He was gone before they could respond.

"Well, that'll hold him off for a while, at least." Miki said.

"Yes. Let's get back to the Reikai. Koenma will wish to know how we faired." Yuna pulled out two crystals from her hand. "I suppose we'll need to bring Ki back. I apologize, Miki, but you know how Ki gets around you."

"Yeah, yeah." Miki said. "At least let me get us back so you don't have to hassle with transporting her back, too."

Yuna nodded.

Back at the Reikai palace, the Urameshi team was anxiously awaiting the return of Yuna and Miki.

"Do you think they're back yet?" Yusuke asked, looking out the door.

"I don't know, but this waiting's killin' me." Kuwabara moaned.

Kurama was watching Hiei, who was perching on the windowsill and facing out to the forest. He wasn't moving, or leaving, but every once in a while he would twitch, and Kurama wanted to comfort him, but he didn't know what he could say or if Hiei would stay long enough to hear it.

Finally, they could hear the stamping of feet that heralded the arrival of Ki and Kurama dodged her attempted attack, which sent her careening into the wall. She sat down and immediately started bawling.

Yuna came in shortly afterward and put an end to the crying by a look.

Kurama looked pleadingly at her.

"Kage remains unscathed." Yuna announced, to much relieved sighing. "Serenius has agreed to our terms and will stop his killing of the humans and his hunt for Kage. The only requirement is that Ki stays with him always."

Ki jumped for joy at that.

"Thank you." Kurama said.

Yuna did a half-bow and walked out again, calling Ki with her. Yusuke and Kuwabara offered their congratulations, and left, leaving Kurama alone with the still silent Hiei.

Kurama walked up to him.

"Hiei?"

No answer.

"Were you listening? Kage's going to be okay."

No answer.

"Hiei?" Kurama leaned over the windowsill to look at Hiei's face.

Tears were falling in a steady stream from Hiei's eyes.

Kurama gasped. He'd _never_ seen Hiei cry. He wrapped his arms around Hiei's body and held on. Hiei turned around and buried his face in Kurama's chest. Kurama could feel his shirt and then his chest moisten from the tears.

"Hiei?" Kurama said again. Hiei rubbed his face against Kurama's shirt then looked up.

"I'm so…glad." Hiei whispered.

Kurama didn't even know what to say.

"Do you…do you want to go see him?"

Hiei shook his head. "Not like this!"

"Sorry!" Kurama said, not wanting to upset Hiei any more.

Hiei closed his eyes and pushed his jaw toward Kurama's face. Kurama set his own jaw against Hiei's, matching him lip for lip. Automatically, it seemed to Kurama, Hiei's tongue shot out and went searching for Kurama's inside his mouth.

Kurama pulled out after a while. "Are you sure you want to do this now?" Hiei nodded, yanking at Kurama's pants and pulling them off then did the same to himself.

"I think we should-" Hiei's mouth enveloped Kurama's again before Kurama could finish his sentence.

Hiei knocked Kurama to the ground and in one foul thrust was in him.

Kurama yelped. "Not so fast!" He screamed.

Hiei leaned down and started kissing Kurama's chest again.

Just about then, Yusuke came in through the open doorway, saw Hiei and Kurama, and stopped dead in his tracks.

Hiei glared up at him, momentarily stopping his kissing.

"What?" He growled.

"I…I forgot something…" Yusuke mumbled.

"Get it then, and leave. Now!"

Yusuke ran past them and grabbed a book from the sofa closest to Koenma's desk.

"Sorry…" Yusuke ran out, still petrified.

Hiei resumed his thrusting and kissing, causing Kurama to moan despite his rapid heartbeat from the unexpected visitor.

Hiei came and pulled out, shortly after which Kurama came too. Hiei leaned down to kiss Kurama wetly on the mouth, then collapsed on top of him. Kurama smiled and put his arms around the skinny thing that was Hiei. They lay together, listening to the soft thrumming of their heartbeats slowing down to a relaxed beat and suddenly Kurama raised his head and kissed the top of Hiei's hair lightly, which gained a sudden impression into his thighs from Hiei's cock. Kurama laughed at that.

"Again?" He giggled. Hiei turned beet-red and glared down at Kurama.

"You have two holes, stupid fox. Should I shove it down the other?"

Kurama's grin turned upside-down. "No." He said firmly. Hiei got a mischievous look on his face. It was rare for Kurama to tell Hiei no, so Hiei knew the other hole must be something really bad. It made him want to do it, despite Kurama's obvious displeasure towards it.

Kurama distracted him, though, by pulling him in for another moist kiss, and Hiei was content to let his tongue roam around in the red-head's mouth.

Kurama let his hands explore the fire demon's body, and Hiei did the same to him. That was when their second visitor appeared very much like his namesake, a shadow.

Kage nearly barfed in disgust at what he saw. He wondered why his mother was so keen on doing whatever it was he was doing with his father. Hiei never so much as _hugged_ Kage, but the baby of the two lovers on the floor could tell that there was something special about what was going on in front of him. He asked in a small voice that caused the fox and fire demons to jolt in surprise, "What are you doing?"

Hiei looked up to find his son staring at him and the stupid fox. He was ashamed to be seen by Kage like this. It went against everything Kage had learned while being around him. He recoiled from Kurama and disappeared out the window, along with his pants.

"We were just kissing, Kage-san."

"What's 'kissing'?" Kage asked, confused.

"It's something that two people do when they're in love. It's a pleasant feeling that both of the people enjoy if it's the right set of people." Kurama explained patiently, pulling his pants back on.

"Oh." Kage said.

"Did you need something, Kage-san?"

Kage shook his head. "I was told to come see you by the black-haired person. He said Hiei and you wanted to see me."

Kurama imagined Kuwabara and Yusuke having a good ol' time wherever they were. He managed a smile somehow and said, "Yes, we did want to see you. What did it feel like to be inside one of Yuna-san's ice crystals?"

Kage shrugged. "I don't really recall anything but that I played with Ki today. I don't remember what we did, or where, I just know that we had fun."

Kurama pondered this for a moment. "Interesting…" He looked up. "Well, I'm going to bed; you should come too, Kage-san. We'll let Hiei be by himself tonight, I think." _Because he won't want to let you see him teary-eyed._ Kurama finished the sentence in his head.

The two of them made their way to their bedroom and fell asleep on the big bed.

Hiei appeared on the windowsill and watched them.

A voice whispered, "Are you going to join us?"

Hiei shook his head and whispered back, "No. I can't let him see me like this."

Kurama rolled slowly onto his back, his right arm still underneath the sleeping Kage.

"Why not?" He whispered.

The fire demon glared at the shadowy figure of the red-head.

Kurama conceded defeat. "All right. Don't answer. But come sleep with us, at least. You can leave before he wakes up so you won't have to talk to him."

Hiei conflicted with himself for a little while and finally leapt off the windowsill and walked towards the bed, undressing as he went. He curled up next to Kurama and snuggled close to him. Kurama grinned and kissed Hiei lightly on his forehead.

"There we go, now the family's complete."


	9. Mistakes

Disclaimer: I do not, nor have I ever, nor will I ever, own any of the Yu Yu Hakusho characters. All attempts at their personalities are simply out of my own crazy ideas. However, Ki and all the other o.c.s are mine and I refuse to have them stolen from me, unless 'tis by Hi or Yuna themselves, since our characters are ours.

Chapter 9: Mistakes

Months passed from that fateful day when Ki and Kage were willingly shoved into a permanent relationship with one another. They played, laughed, and played some more.

Hi was getting restless, though. She abhorred the happy, peaceful atmosphere that was the Reikai Palace, and, as was in her nature, wished to find some way to rile things up. She was patient, but not _that_ patient, so when an idea came to her, she immediately took to planning the enactment of it. It was perfect: she'd find a way to get the stupid little bastard of Hiei's to show his true colors using the supposedly dead Ki as bait. Now all that needed to happen was to find a way to separate the two of them so that Ki couldn't ruin the plan. She had just the idea, which would provide for even more entertainment…

"Ki! Ki!" Hi yelled, running up to the bathing Ki.

Ki jumped up out of the giant bathtub, looking scared.

"What, Oneechan?"

Hi stopped just short of the bathtub and caught her breath before responding.

"Yuna just told me…she didn't want me…to tell you…but I knew you should know…"

"What?"

"Serenius came back and kidnapped Kage! We're trying to locate him right now, and Yuna thinks that he took him to his old residence at the Youkai Palace. They already left to go find him. I'm just going to join them. You should come!"

Ki's eyes had gone twice the size they normally were, making her look like a psyduck during mating season. All she could do was nod fervently before she disappeared in a small splash of water.

Hi smirked. _Next._

"Kage! Kage!" Hi yelled, running towards the form of Kage's sleeping body, perched carefully on a pine tree.

Kage's eyes flickered opened, he looked down and said, confused, "Yes?"

"It's…Ki…" Hi started, panting. "She came…with us for the last…patrol, and some…S class…demons kidnapped her…Yuna and the rest are already trying to find out where they are so that they can go rescue her."

Kage leapt up, his eyes glazed over in fear. "Where is she?"

Hi tried her hardest to suppress the smirk that was trying to force its way onto her mouth. "We think they have her in the least inhabited area of the Makai, but we're not sure. Kurama and Hiei asked me to tell you to come join them because they knew you'd want to be there."

Kage nodded and ran off towards the portal.

_Now to wait for the show to start…_


	10. Power

Chapter 10: Power

_Knock Knock_.

Kurama, who had just put a bathrobe over is naked body-fresh from the bath-looked up at the sound of a knock coming from the other side of the big wooden doors of his room at the Reikai Palace.

He hollered a "Coming!" and hurried over to the door.

When he opened it, he found a round, short, and green helper-oni standing on the other side, shuffling from one foot to the other, as if he was nervous about talking to Kurama.

"May I help you?" Kurama asked, not unkindly.

The oni looked up, met Kurama's emerald green eyes, and glance back down, apparently embarrassed. "Good evening, sir." The oni started out. "I have been asked by Prince Enma Jr. to tell you that he requests your presence on the training grounds. Apparently, a new letter has arrived from Serenius, and His Majesty would like you and the rest of the team to be present when he reads it. If you don't mind, would you accept his request?"

Kurama nodded his head, and the oni bowed then ran off down the long golden hallway.

The red-haired fox demon shut the big door quietly and began walking back towards the bathroom, where his son, Kage, was still bathing.

Once inside the tiled bathroom that was larger than his livingroom at his human parents' house, he found Kage still splashing around in the tub that was big enough for the young demon to swim in.

"Kage-san." Kurama said, calling the black-haired demon's attention to him. When those piercing red eyes that reminded him so much of his lover's met his, he said in a calm voice, "I was just informed that Enma Jr. would like us to meet him on the training grounds. Everyone is being asked to go, so would you like to join us?"

Kage nodded quickly, then, after pausing for a moment, blurted out, "Will Ki-san be there?" He had already developed his father's knack for using the Japanese honorifics.

When Kurama nodded his head, Kage's whole face lit up with joy, even though he attempted to hide it. Kurama smiled at this. It was good that Kage was developing a good relationship with the a-little-too-exuberant water demon. This was, after all, exactly what the spirit detectives needed to happen, because Ki seemed to keep the inner-demon in Kage at bay, and the current conflict that they found themselves in seemed to relate to Kage's inner-demon.

"Well, then, get dressed, and we shall leave." Kurama said, exiting the bathroom once more and going to the large oak bureau next to the big four-poster bed that sat in the middle of the far wall from the doors. Kurama opened the top drawer and pulled out a pair of clean boxers, which he pulled up over his bared legs.

After the two of them were dressed and ready to go, they made their way through the large castle, out the back, and into the series of equipment and chi-testers and to the meeting place, which was the bulk of the training grounds and the only part that had no contraptions to speak of, just landscape.

They found themselves not the first to meet up with Enma Jr., but certainly not the last.

The three demon sisters were already there, Ki chasing what appeared to be a butterfly that was flying around near the forested part of the grounds, the other two standing and silently conversing with one another.

When the two demons joined the others, the older sisters greeted the both of them by a nod of their heads, and Enma Jr. gave them a vague wave. He was sporting his child form and was sucking on a new pacifier, the other one already having been used in a previous battle.

Yusuke and Kuwabara were the next to show up, and it was obvious to the rest of the group that they had been drinking. They were cracking raucous jokes and slapping each other on the backs and stumbling to and fro. Hiei arrived extremely quietly in comparison to the two drunken members of their team; one moment he wasn't there, the next he had appeared next to Kage, on the other side from where Kurama stood.

"Kuwabara! Yusuke! Shut up!" Enma Jr. ordered, silencing the two.

Everyone's eyes on him, the baby Enma Jr. coughed dramatically and pulled a papyrus scroll out of his pocket that was tied closed by a shiny silver ribbon.

Enma Jr. untied the ribbon, unfurled the scroll and began to read: "My dearest acquaintances, I have thought long and hard about our agreement to allow the child of Hiei and Kurama to live, and regret to inform you that I must rescind my earlier agreement to it. The child is simply too dangerous to allow to live, and I cannot fathom that you can truly assure me that the water-demon child will always be around to calm the child, or that she will always wish to do so.

"Therefore, I must inform you that I would like to arrange another meeting on the demon plane, in the Forest of the Lost Soul, at approximately seven in the evening on the Monday after next. Though I fear we will not be able to find a more suitable solution, I wish to try at least once more to convince you that the child is too dangerous to be allowed to live any longer.

"If you would send a response confirming the appointment within the week, my appreciation would be boundless." Enma Jr. left off the ending part because he didn't think that it was worth it to utter the silver-haired demon's sincerely.

The group was silent for only a second before different voices made the small clearing seem suddenly too loud. Most of the fellow comrades were angry that Serenius was suddenly going back on the agreement they had reached a month before, and others were attempting to convince Enma Jr. of plans that they felt were necessary in this new situation.

Finally, the noise was too much, and too scattered, that Enma Jr. pulled a whistle out of his shirt and blew on it, causing the group to squeal in pain from the high-pitched noise and quiet down.

"Though I understand all of your guys' concern, talking all at once will get us nowhere." He put the whistle back under his shirt and began speaking once more. "Now, I have already spoken with my father on this situation, and he believes that although Serenius has a good point about the future, there appears to be no need for concern at the moment, and therefore we need to find a way in which to convince Serenius of this fact. Perhaps, if things prove to be less than favorable for the three planes…" He left off, looking nervously at Hiei and Kurama, and Kage in between.

This statement gained the prince another round of loud disapproval and resentments, and he pulled the whistle out once more, but found he did not need to blow on it again; the others quieted down at just the mere sight of the tool.

"You must understand. I have to look at this from a third-person's view because I am in charge of the protection and order of three different realms. Loathe though I may be to do anything to your family, Hiei and Kurama, I have to think of the possibilities, because it has not yet been proven if Serenius' point is valid or not." Enma Junior's face made the point behind his words clear.

Kurama bowed slightly at the waist and responded, "We understand that, Enma Jr., however, Hiei and I must also look at this from the perspective of parents, as we are talking about the murder of our own child. Though I wish to remain on friendly terms with the Reikai family, any threat on my own will most certainly be met with rebellion and violence." As if to emphasize his point, Hiei crouched into his fighting stance, his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Enma Jr. shook his obtuse head. "Let's hope, then, that it does not come to that. For now, I want you all to be ready for a special form of training tomorrow. Be here two hours after dawn; and make sure you've eaten a good breakfast; you'll need it." He waved his hand in dismissal and then walked off towards the palace, two bodyguard oni appearing from behind him followed him there.

After he was gone, the other eight people looked at each other in turn, not saying anything, their eyes being enough to express their worry.

Finally, Yusuke excused himself, saying, "Well, I'd better go back home and get some sleep. Mom's not going to like that I snuck out again." He walked off after punching Kuwabara on the arm and waving to the rest.

Kuwabara followed shortly after, explaining himself as needing to go back and tell Yukina what was happening.

That left the three sisters, Kurama, Hiei, and Kage, who was watching Ki as she went back to her pursuit of the monarch butterflies that were drinking nectar on the nearby flowers. Kage kept glancing back to Hiei, as if he wasn't sure if it would be okay for him to go join Ki, who was providing the only noise in the silent clearing with her laughter.

Kurama was staring into Yuna's eyes, and her into his; they seemed to be having a silent conversation, until Kurama finally spoke, "Do you know what the 'special training' Enma Jr. spoke of is?"

Yuna nodded her head ever so slightly, choosing not to give an audible response.

"May I ask what it is then?"

Yuna gave a knowing smile and responded in her soft and silky voice, "I'd rather not say right now, but I can assure you that it will most definitely help us in a potential fight against Serenius."

Kurama nodded his head this time, acquiescing to Yuna's unspoken plea for secrecy. "Very well. I must ask, however—" Before Kurama could finish his question, he felt a sudden surge of a foreign energy mass near them and drew his rose whip out from behind his ear, realizing at the same time as everyone else that it was Serenius.

However, just as soon as it had appeared, the energy mass was gone and Ki, who had been crouched in a cat's hunting pose, with her ears flat on her head and her sharp fangs bared, began chasing after a bird in the tree above her once more. This seemed to calm her sisters down, and they let their arms fall back to their sides; totally relaxed again.

Kage, Kurama, and Hiei did not share their renewed comfort, and were looking at one another. Finally, Kurama said in a whisper, "Should we pursue?" Hiei nodded silently and acted like he was about to take off, but before he could, Hi grabbed him by the back of his shirt and said in a snide voice, "Hold on, shrimp." Hiei ripped his shirt out of Hi's grasp and growled at her, pulling his sword out of its sheath.

"There's no need for that, Hiei." Yuna said, as calm as ever.

"Why not?" Kurama asked, looking confused.

Hi explained. "See Ki?" Kurama and Kage nodded, Hiei was too busy trying to control his anger at being grabbed. "Did you notice how the stripes on her ears turned red when we sensed Serenius' energy?" The three boys shook their heads, and Hi smirked, obviously pleased at their ignorance. "Well, when Ki smells a foreign energy that she doesn't like, the stripes on her ears turn red. It makes for a good sense of what's around you. If Serenius was anywhere near us still, those stripes would still be red, so don't worry."

Yuna's expression confirmed what Hi had said, and Kurama pushed Kage towards Ki, saying in a soft whisper, "Go ahead and play, Kage-san. It's okay." Kage looked at Hiei for reassurance, but Hiei was still glaring at Hi, so when Kurama pushed him slightly again, he ran over and starting helping Ki chase the birds, since the butterflies had all flow away, clearly annoyed at Ki's pursuit.

Kuram spoke to Yuna and Hi. "That is a very unique and useful trait that Ki-san has. When did you guys know that it was there?"

Hi said, her smirk still in place at Hiei's expression. "When we had our first battle together. A bunch of lower-level yokai tried to attack us, but before they got anywhere near us, Ki went into her defensive stance, and we knew something was up, because we had never seen her show any outward signs of hostility towards anyone or anything."

"Yes, and you can imagine how much use that it has been since we discovered it." Yuna commented, smiling fondly at Ki. She turned her attention back to Kurama and asked, a concerned look on her face. "I believe you were attempting to ask me something, before we were so rudely interrupted?"

Kurama, who had been pulling Hiei back to his side by his arm, met Yuna's eyes and had to think for a little while before he remembered what he had been asking.

"Yes…" He started. "I wanted to ask if you would mind watching over Kage while I go back to my apartment at Oxford. I have missed too much school as it is, and I am sure that the school has contacted my parents. It's probably a wise idea for me to go take care of those things before we start training again tomorrow."

Yuna's eyes crinkled in a winning smile as she agreed. "Of course. It would be our pleasure to watch over little Kage. I'm sure that Ki would love to spend a little more free time with him, and we can certainly watch over him while he sleeps tonight. Please, feel no need for concern and go take care of what you need to." Hi didn't seem to agree with Yuna's statement, but she didn't say anything, and it was obvious from that action who the leader of the sisters was.

Kurama gave Yuna a half-bow and said, "Well then, I thank you. I will be back before our training begins. Until then." He said, and began making his way towards the entrance to the human world.

While Kuram was running towards the entrance to Ningenkai, he felt the presence of someone else following him, and stopped running, turning around and crouching down into a defensive stance.

It was long before his follower made themselves present and Kurama sighed with relief when he realized it was just Hiei.

Hiei stopped just short of where Kurama was standing and said. "Where are you going? I thought you were off to Ningenkai. Isn't that in the other direction?"

Kurama smiled and said, "Yes, it is. However, I asked King Enma to open a smaller entrance closer to the palace so that I could get directly to Oxford and back without having to go from Japan to England. I'm going to need to go back and forth if I intend to keep my scholarship there."

Hiei nodded his understanding and said, "Well, I'll join you, then."

Kurama, who was mildly surprised by this statement, asked, "Shouldn't you stay here to protect Kage-san?"

Hiei glanced back towards the palace, which was still just visible through the thickness of the trees. The black-haired demon turned his attention back to Kurama and said, shrugging, "The sisters should be able to handle it, and if not, Kage's supposed to be the bane of the three worlds, so shouldn't he be able to handle himself?"

Kurama started laughing. "True enough. Well then, shall we?" He motioned towards where he had been running to, and Hiei began following him.

Back in the clearing, Ki and Kage had taken little notice of his parents' departure, and were currently hunting a small brown fox through the rough foliage of the surrounding forest.

Yuna and Hi were quietly discussing tactics and plans for what they hoped to do after the situation with Serenius was over, and only Yuna was truly aware of what Ki and Kage were doing.

After another hour had passed, and what little of the sunlight that was still visible had finally disappeared, Yuna called Ki and Kage back to her. The two popped up from a completely different direction than where they had left the clearing, both looking like they had been through a war, what with dirt smudges all over their bodies and clothes, and Ki sporting a few cuts and scrapes on her bare arms and legs.

"All right, Ki and Kage. It's time for bed. We have an early morning tomorrow, and I think that it's late enough for two children to be in bed." Yuna smiled adoringly down on the two miscreants.

Ki began jumping up and down excitedly, and asked in a squeaky voice, "Ooh, ooh! Can Ki and Kage-chan have a sleep-over? Can we? Can we?"

Yuna, who had obviously taken over the title of parent in Ki's life, became stern and said seriously, "Only if you both promise to go to sleep within the hour."

"Ki will sleep! Ki will sleep! Ki promises, okay?" Ki said, looking pleadingly at Yuna.

Yuna couldn't help herself; she smiled in adoration at her younger sister. "All right. Let's go back, then." And the four of them headed back to Kurama's room in the palace.

Meanwhile, back on the human world, Kurama and Hiei had made it safely back to Kurama's apartment, and Hiei was crouching on the bed while Kurama viewed his missed calls and e-mails, mostly from his parents, wondering if he was okay.

Kurama picked up his cell phone that he had left in his apartment because he knew it wouldn't work at the Reikai Palace, and dialed his mom's phone number.

It was only a couple rings before his mother's worried voice answered. "Kurama-kun! Oh, Kurama-kun! We were so worried. Are you okay?"

Kurama's heart broke at the tone of concern in his mother's voice. He knew he needed to keep her out of the loop for her own safety, and had insisted on going to college so far away so that no one would think of him having connections back in Japan.

"I'm doing just fine, Mother." Kurama began. "I had a very bad head cold that just broke yesterday. I've been in bed for the past week, and wasn't able to call anyone because I was sleeping most of the time." He paused for his mother's next words and responded in a sympathetic voice, "Yes, Mother. I'm sorry. I know I should have at least called the school. No, I'm fine. I'll be back at school the day after tomorrow." Another pause. "Yes, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'm going to leave the administration people a message tomorrow to let them know what the situation was. Okay, please give my best to Dad. Yes, I love you, too. I'll call you on Monday, okay?"

Kurama sighed as he hit the End button on his cell phone. He took a glance toward Hiei, who was still perched on his bed, now honing his hunting knife. He then dialed another number and waited for the message machine to come on, since the school office wasn't open during the weekend.

"Hello, this is Kurama Minamino. I am a Junior in the Medical Engineering field, and my student ID is 444656. I have been absent for the past week because of a bad head cold. I regret that I was unable to allow one of my classmates know to inform my professors, but I haven't been able to do much more than eat and sleep. I will be back in class this Monday, as my fever finally broke last night. Thank you." Kurama once again pressed the End button then closed his flip-phone and put it back on its charger on his work-desk.

Then he turned his attention to Hiei.

"So, do you want to sleep here, or are you going to go find a tree somewhere?" Hiei glared up at him and said, "I'll find a tree."

Kurama nodded, but then an idea came to him, and he said enthusiastically. "Before we sleep, I think you'd rather enjoy a visit to the nearby forest. I know you like the older growth forests. Come on." Kurama moved towards the window, knowing Hiei wouldn't follow him down the stair inside the building.

Hiei looked mildly interested, and therefore followed Kurama out of the window and down to the street-lamp-lit alleyway below the apartment.

The two of them walked through the lit alleyways to the main road through the town and followed it down to a gated park that was closed for the night. Hiei could see that there was a small playground with odd human contraptions for their children to play on with tanbark on the ground, and several picnic-benches and brick barbeques. But behind all of these manmade objects loomed a large and old pinewood forest. The trees rose several stories up in the air and the sound of the night's wildlife was almost overwhelming. Hiei peered at the fence in front of his goal, judging how high he would need to leap to jump over it.

"Hold on." Kurama said, walking towards the gated fence. He pressed a few buttons on the key pad in front, apparently disarming the security cameras that were trained on the ground where he stood and on the length of the fence. "Okay, let's go in." Kurama and Hiei lept over the fence and into the old forest's depths.

After they had gone several miles in, they finally slowed down and Hiei began climbing up one of the oldest trees in the forest. He settled on a limb about halfway up the tree, several yards up from the ground, but still strong enough to hold his weight. He peered over the rest of the forest, obviously pleased with what he was seeing.

"Do you like it?" Kurama said, sitting down on a branch slightly below the one Hiei was perched on and to the left of it.

Hiei just nodded, avoiding Kurama's curious green eyes.

They sat and said nothing for a couple hours' time, then Kurama stood up and declared that he was going back to his apartment. He knew Hiei would want to stay here to sleep, so he didn't wait for the short demon's response before he made his way back to his apartment.


	11. How to Fight a Teleporter

Chapter 11: How To Fight a Teleporter

In the morning on Sunday, Kurama made his way back to the forested park area where Hiei had spent the night and collected his lover, resetting the security cameras so that the humans were none the smarter about their absence throughout the night.

The two of them then made their way back to the entrance to the Reikai, which Koenma had cleverly disguised in a bush on the grounds of Oxford College. Once back near the palace, they ran towards the training grounds, intrigued about the day's training.

Ki and Kage woke up at almost the exact same time as each other, Ki having slept with Kage in the big four-poster bed in Kurama's room. The two younger demons were urged to bathe and prepare themselves for training by Yuna and Hi, and then the four of them went to go join the others in the same clearing where they had met the night before.

When they arrived, Kurama and Hiei were already there, Kurama conversing with Kuwabara and Yusuke about how their evenings had been.

Kage unwillingly fell in next to Hiei, who expected this of him whenever they were together, leaving Ki standing next to her sisters.

When Koenma arrived, followed by his bodyguards, the Urameshi team and the three sisters formed a half-circle around him and waited patiently for him to explain what they would be doing that day, even though Hi and Yuna already knew what it was.

"Good morning." Koenma started, nodding to each person in turn. "As promised, we will begin training on how to fight Serenius, should our situation concerning him come to that point. Now, as you all know, Serenius has the ability to teleport, which essentially makes it nearly impossible to always track his spirit energy. Therefore, I, along with Yuna's help, have developed a series of practices that should help all of you with fighting teleporters. The basic idea is that you will have to learn how to fight while being 'blind' to your opponent's spirit energy." Koenma motioned with his hand and his bodyguards came to stand next to them. The party hadn't noticed this before, but both of the oni were carrying body-length shields with the crest of the royal family on the front. They appeared to be rather heavy, as the oni were both sweating profusely.

"These shields, when activated, will block these oni's spirit energy, making it difficult to know how strong they are, and where they are, if they are not in your direct line of sight. Today, you will be learning on how to rely on your instincts a little more than your ability to sense your opponent's energy. Yusuke, come and volunteer yourself as an example." Yusuke strutted forward, acting like Yusuke.

One of the oni tapped the crest on the shield and immediately everyone in the clearing found that they were unable to locate the oni's spirit energy. Yusuke smirked, still sure of his ability to get a hit on the oni. He ran head long towards the oni, but just before he pulled his fist back in order to punch the shield, the oni moved so quickly that even Kurama could not see where he went, until the big shield knocked Yusuke to the ground from behind.

Koenma grinned cheekily. "Oh, I forgot to tell you guys: these oni have been specially trained to be extremely fast, which will make this all the more realistic for you all."

Yusuke grunted in discomfort, but turned to face the small green oni and turned to his side so that only the left half of him was facing the oni.

"All right." The head of the Urameshi team said, a determined look upon his face. "Well, I can be pretty fast, too, so let's get this show on the road." He approached the bodyguard a little more carefully this time, feigning to the left and the right, trying to see how close he could get before the oni backed off. Finally, Yusuke made his second attempt at a punch and, just before coming in from the right, he spun around and came in from the left, but still only managed to just brush the shield, the oni having managed to somehow foresee his move and shoving him down from the back once more.

The rest of the group watched his seemingly useless attempts at attacking the bodyguard oni in fascination. Yusuke certainly wasn't the fastest of the Urameshi Team, but he was definitely one of the quickest and therefore watching him having such a hard time was somewhat surprising. Hiei was already itching to try his own hand at the practice, and was looking almost hungrily at the other oni who was holding another one of the shields.

Koenma, seeing Hiei's eagerness, nodded at the unoccupied oni and said, "All right. Let's get another one of you to practice on this guy. We'll do about twenty minute increments per person so that none of you get too tired. Hiei, why don't you start up with this guy; you seem to be a little _too_ eager to start." Hiei immediately went in for the kill, the other oni barely having time to press the anti-energy button on the front of the shield before he was literally running for his life, attempting to dodge Hiei's quick and deft movements and avoid getting killed, rather than hurt.

Over the duration of the next five hours, every one of the Urameshi Team and the three sisters had a turn with the bodyguards, most of them were no better off at fighting a teleporter than they had originally been, except the sisters, who were all able to teleport themselves, and therefore had practice with what to expect from such a demon. Finally, a little after one in the afternoon, Koenma called the session over, thinking of the health of his two bodyguards, who looked as if they were going to pass out from exhaustion. "Okay. Let's break for lunch. You guys can work on your usual training afterwards, and we'll start up with this training again tomorrow evening, since most of you have responsibilities on Ningenkai."

The group nodded their consent and Yusuke and Kuwabara collapsed on the ground, breathing rather heavily from exertion. Kurama, Kage, and Ki did the same shortly after, Ki lying flat on her back, her tail crushed underneath her weight, having been too tired to remember that it was there.

Hiei ran off into the surrounding woods, tired, but not willing to show his weakness in front of the others, and wishing to go find something to eat that would taste better than the food they offered in the palace. He enjoyed the taste of freshly caught meat quite a bit more than the seasoned and charred meals that the helper oni often made.

Yuna seemed to be the only one who was left completely unharmed and not tired whatsoever, she merely seemed amused by how worn out everyone else was, including her fire-demon sister, Hi, who was sitting on the ground close to where Yuna was standing and leaning back to allow better air flow into her lungs.

"It appears we shall need a moment to recover before we go and obtain our lunch. Can I get anyone a cup of water, first?" Everyone raised their hands and Yuna disappeared, to only appear a few minutes later holding four cups of water in her two hands, and handed them out to the four remaining members of the Urameshi team. She disappeared once more and then came back with two glasses for her sisters.

After the other six had calmed down, they made their way slowly back to the palace to eat lunch. After lunch, Yusuke and Kuwabara, along with the others made their way back to the training grounds, rejuvenated and ready to try their hands at some other new techniques they had learned about from some of the other helper oni at the palace while they were breaking their fasts. The sisters went off on their own somewhere, and Kurama had Kage go with them; he needed to go back to his apartment to get some homework done before he went back to class tomorrow. He had been getting most of the homework done and sending what he could to his teachers via e-mail, but there was always more homework when you were a medical engineer, and he wanted to get some of the extra credit homework that he could do in order to make up for the participation points that he had missed.

Once he made it to his apartment, he turned on his laptop and began to get his homework done. Near the end of the evening, just after dusk, Kurama heard the tell-tale sign of the wind blowing against a body on his windowsill, and, without turning around, he said quietly, "Good evening, Hiei."

He heard the short demon mutter "Stupid fox," and then he was being pulled away from his chair by a pair of small but rough hands. Next thing he knew, Hiei's mouth was on his and was forcing his tongue into Kurama's mouth, simultaneously pulling at Kurama's robes, in an obvious eagerness to undress the fox demon. Kurama conceded, carrying Hiei to the bed in the corner of the room and letting himself be pushed down on top of it by the small black-haired demon.

Kurama, now in just his plaid boxers, began to pull Hiei's pants off while still letting his mouth be devoured by Hiei. Hiei, for his part, was too focused on the kiss to care whether or not he was dressed or not. He didn't per se want sex at this moment, he just wanted to let Kurama feel his sudden passion for the man that he had never felt before; at least not quite this much.

But when he found that the sight of Kurama in a pair of boxers turned him on quite a bit, suddenly he wanted nothing but to give Kurama pleasure in another way so he ripped the last piece of clothing Kurama had on and entered the now female fox. Kurama's moan of pleasure was almost enough to make the fire demon come right then, but he held it back, wanting to prolong the moment.

After the fire yokai had came, Kurama smiled up at him, taking the now limp form in his arms and hugging the little demon to him.

"So…what brought all that on?" Kurama whispered softly, chuckling quietly to himself.

"Mff ump…" Hiei muttered into Kurama's chest, causing Kurama's chest to rise and fall quicker with his laughter.

"Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer…" The red head said to no one in particular. He frowned suddenly and looked down into Hiei's red eyes, that were now staring up at him confusedly. "May I assume this means you'll stay tonight?" The black eyebrows above those piercing red eyes turned downwards as Hiei frowned and growled, but he nodded his head slowly. Kurama started laughing again at the blush that was creeping up on Hiei's face. "Good." He said and pulled Hiei's form closer to him, rolling out from under him and pulling Hiei up close to his chest. The two remained silent and finally Hiei then Kurama drifted off to sleep.

Over the next few weeks, the Urameshi Team continued their fervent attempts at attacking the extremely fast shield-oni with improvements on all fronts. The Yokai Sisters had already mastered the challenge by the end of the first week, even though Ki often over-exerted herself out of sheer enjoyment of being around her favorite people. A month went by and November was rapidly approaching the Ningenkai, causing Kurama to resort to thick jackets and steel-toed boots made out of cow leather and very thick socks. Kurama would join the rest of the training men and women on weekends and after his classes each day, encouraged by Hiei's continued presence in his dorm room on most nights. However, no matter how many times Hiei came, Kurama appeared to be deflecting all their attempts at impregnating him. He was saddened by this, but also happy because it seemed as if Hiei's frequent visits were due to his attempts to get Kurama pregnant, most likely so that Kurama could feel the same pain and humiliation as Hiei had with Kage's pregnancy.

As a snowy December came, and Kurama's classes ended for Winter Vacation, Koenma began to wonder if Serenius would ever actually show up for another visit. The planned visit received in the letter never occurred, and this irked him. Serenius had never missed a meeting before, especially when he said he would be there, and though he thought it was far-fetched to assume so, he hoped that this meant the white-haired demon had passed away or been killed and would therefore no longer be a problem. In the meantime, he continued to assign his spirit-detective team on other tasks that needed doing and insisted on the continued fraternization with Yuna and her sisters, as they all now knew that Kage was unstable and it was very likely that without Ki's continued presence in his life, the prophecy that Serenius insisted was true would actually occur. Kage, for his part, was ecstatic for any excuse to spend time with Ki, who was quickly becoming his object of extreme affection, perhaps even of love, though he was certainly too young to understand whether or not that was the case. And Ki, being her oblivious self, was simply enjoying having someone to play with every day that didn't yell at her to be quiet or tell her to sit still for more than three seconds.

Yuna began searching for signs of where Serenius had wound up, to no avail, though she had traveled to several places throughout the demon realm and human realm. This was apparently on Koenma's orders, but Yuna would have done it even without his request; she was as fervent about finding out where their enemy was as Koenma was and as she wasn't really needed on the Urameshi tasks, she and Hi spent most of their time wandering around to different places on Demon Plane: talking to well-known ne'er-do-wells and exploring less than friendly stretches of grasslands, forests, and cities. They came back at night so that they could keep an eye on Kage and Ki while the rest went back home and left early in the morning when the others came back.

Finally, as January was quickly approaching, Yuna and Hi heard tale of a silver-eyed demon who was living in the depths of the Yokai Forest, apparently biding his time for something. The lesser demons all told Yuna and Hi that they dared not go anywhere near the place where this demon was because they were hypnotized and then eaten by it.

"Aye, 'twas just 'round 'bout here, 'twas, missies." An older demon by the name of Kanaka told them one evening as they visited a small village on the outskirts of this forest. He had led them into the deepest recesses of said forest with apparently no concern for his own well-being, showing them the makings of a small camp in the middle of a clearing of rushes. "Now…this is 'bout as far as I'm a willin' t'go. If you'd be so kind as ta give me ma payment, I'd be much appreciatin' it." He held out a withered hand that was more like a large claw and Yuna dropped a piece of jerky into it. It was a very rare jerky that was considered a delicacy in this stretch of the demon plane and was therefore apparently worth the danger that the older yoko had put himself into leading them here.

"Thank you, Kanaka, for all your help." Yuna said and bowed as he left them. Once he was gone, Yuna gave Hi a quick nod and the two of them disappeared.

Hi approached the opening to the tent apprehensively, slowly shifting towards the flap, ready for Serenius to spring out at her at any moment. She reached her hand forward to move the flap and heard a voice in the tree behind her say,

"And to what do I owe this most welcome visit, my dear fire yokai?"

Hi spun around so fast she was merely a blur of movement and threw a ball of orange fire at the tree where the silver-haired yokai was sitting. He teleported to the tree next to it just before the orange ball hit the tree and immediately set it on fire.

"Tsk tsk. Never be so hasty, Hi. One would think you had come here to kill me." Serenius said, wagging a long and skinny finger at the red-haired fire demon.

Now another voice joined the meeting.

"However, one may also come to the conclusion that you, Serenius, did not wish to be discovered, and therefore did not want our company." Serenius turned his head quickly to the place where Yuna sat, in a tree at his level but across the clearing from him.

The silver-eyed demon smiled serenely. "Oh, hello, Yuna. Yes, one may assume that, and one would most likely find themselves correct in that assumption, but probably not for the reasons that one would assume."

"And will you enlighten the both of us as to what those reasons are?" Yuna countered, telling Hi through her mind connection to calm down and start looking inside the tent while Yuna preoccupied Serenius.

Hi took a few calming breaths and replaced her frown of frustration with her usual cocky smile. "Yes, Serenius, please do." She called up at him from in front of his tent.

Serenius smiled down at her and then peered back across the clearing at Yuna, who was looking very at ease.

"I must apologize for my rude absence at our last scheduled meeting, but I was preoccupied with another task that needed doing and was therefore unable to make it. I suppose I probably should have sent another letter to your company, but I must admit: I didn't think it would matter that much. You and your friends have decided to consider me an enemy, though we should rightly be allies. I therefore believed you would simply add it up to my…evilness…that I did not show up."

"I see…" Yuna said after a few minutes silence. "And may I ask what this other task was?" She reached out with her mind and saw through Hi's eyes the stuff in the tent. There wasn't much in their other than a small, neatly made cot and a chest of drawers that looked like it belonged in a house rather than in a tent. Hi was still looking underneath the cot for anything that might lead them to finding out what Serenius had been up to in the past few months. When Yuna came back to herself, it was to find that Serenius was smiling at her with a look as if he knew just where her mind had been.

"I am afraid that I cannot tell you the circumstances of my task…at least not yet." Serenius said in response to Yuna's question. "Now…do you mind if I ask you a question?" When Yuna nodded her acquiesce, he continued, "Is the cat child still with the boy?" Yuna nodded her head once more. "Ah. I see. That is good to hear. Has the boy had any outbursts since she began tagging along with him everywhere?" Yuna shook her head. "Good. And, finally, has Kurama been impregnated yet by Hiei?"

"No." Yuna finally spoke. "They have been trying quite vigorously, but without any success. Would you perhaps know the reason why that is?" She saw, for just a moment, Hi rummaging around in the chest of drawers now then brought herself back to her body to hear Serenius' response.

There was a dark shadow over the silver-eyed demon's face and he left Yuna hanging for almost ten minutes before he finally spoke, just as Yuna was giving up on actually getting an answer out of him.

"There is more to the prophecy than just the birth of the child that is destined to be the bane of both humans and demons. There is also a part of it that predicts exactly what is happening to the two lovers. It states that only one will be able to have children, while the other will not, but that the one who is unable to bear children will want to and that the one who does not will be the only one who can. In simpler terms, Hiei is the only one in their relationship that has the potential to bear offspring, but unless Kurama can convince Hiei that he must be the dominated and not the dominator, they will never have another child together. Something tells me, however, Yuna, that you may have already guessed as much." He bowed his head in respect for the ice demon.

Yuna gave her own version of a knowing smile and responded, saying, "I had, as you say, _guessed_ as much, but I prefer to act on concrete knowledge rather than conjectures. So, Hiei is, in fact, the only one with the capability to bear children, but he will, of course, never allow that to happen again. I will have to tell Kurama this so he may begin to make the attempt at convincing Hiei to be child-bearer." She lowered her head, lost in thought, and therefore did not see Hi sneak back out of the tent and join her up in the treetops.

"I trust you found nothing of import, Hi?" Serenius said, smiling benignly at the fire yokai.

Hi glared at him and said with a sneer in her voice, "No, of course not. But you, of course, made sure that I wouldn't, I'm sure."

"As you say." Serenius said, waving his hand in dismissal. "Now, if you are done with the twenty questions and with ransacking my abode, I would rather like a good night's rest. I assure you, if anything comes out of my assignment I will make contact with Koenma immediately."

Hi opened her mouth to tell the other demon that he could do something not so nice when Yuna spoke over her half-formed sentence. "We will do as you ask, Serenius. We apologize for the sudden visit, but we feared you had been killed or had withered away to nothing."

"I am pleased that you would worry for my safety, but I assure you that I am in perfect health. Good night, Yuna…Hi." The silver-haired demon bowed while sitting in the tree and did not leave his perch until the two sisters had teleported back to the Reikai.

_Knock Knock_.

The sudden pounding on his dorm room door shocked Kurama out of his stupor over his laptop and the essay he was avoiding writing.

"C—come in!" He called. He rarely locked his door, assuming the only people he needed to worry about would approach from the window.

The wooden door creaked open and a blue-haired woman walked over the threshold, her ice-blue eyes shining in the half-light of Kurama's dorm room.

"Yuna-san!" Kurama said, a little shocked at the sudden appearance of the oldest Yokai Sister. He rose up out of his computer chair so quickly that he knocked it back onto the floor. He walked over and shook hands with the ice demon, who seemed rather amused with Kurama's surprise.

"Please, have a seat!" Kurama said, picking the computer chair back off the ground and holding it so that Yuna could sit in it.

Yuna held the back of her long dark-blue dress and sat down in the proffered chair. "I thank you, Kurama." She said as her eyes followed his path to his bed where he sat down on the edge.

"It's no problem." Kurama said. "Now, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Yuna frowned at him, apparently unsure of how to proceed.

"What's wrong?" Kurama asked, suddenly serious. "Did you find Serenius?"

Yuna nodded.

"What's he—" He started, but Yuna cut him off.

"He's in the Yokai Forest, but he has no intentions to attack Kage. At least not for now. He is apparently undergoing a task that is involving most of his time and has something to do with Ki and Kage, but that was all I could glean from reading his mind. He kept it painstakingly blank for our entire conversation. I had Hi check his tent for any information about what it is that he is doing right now, but it seems he foresaw our attempt and either hid or destroyed any documents that we may have been able to use. But that is not why I came to speak with you here in the Ningenkai, Kurama."

Kurama stared expectantly at Yuna, waiting for her to continue. When she did not, he said, trying to hide his eagerness, "And what _is_ your reason for visiting me here, Yuna-san?"

Yuna gave him that same apprehensive look and then began to talk in an almost apologetic voice. "I am not sure how to tell you this exactly, but Serenius was able to tell me why it is that you are unable to get pregnant."

"H-how did—" Kurama started, his face turning red.

"Please, Kurama. I am a mind-reader. There is little that is not withheld from me that I do not already know. Hiei's mind is shouting about your latest endeavors every time we meet for training."

Kurama began spluttering incoherent nonsense, but as his face turned to an even deeper shade of red, he couldn't help but be a little pleased that Hiei's mind was full of their latest "endeavors".

Yuna held her hand up and Kurama stopped at once. "Whether or not I know of your doings is not the point I was trying to make. I am trying to tell you that, according to the prophecy Serenius has told us about, you will never be able to get pregnant with Hiei's child. It has to be Hiei that is the mother, if you two wish to have further children besides Kage. The prophecy also apparently foresaw Hiei's demeanor because it states that his desire to-excuse the phrase-always be on top will prevent the two of you from having anymore offspring."

Kurama looked rather dumbstruck and didn't say anything for several minutes. Finally, he began speaking as if he thought he was dreaming. "So…so…even though I can turn into the female, I cannot get pregnant?" Yuna nodded. "So…so…I—if we want to have more children, I will have to convince Hiei to be the female?" Yuna nodded and watched as Kurama seemed to deflate in front of her. She wished to console him, but knew not how, and therefore said in a sad voice, "I wanted to let you know, so that perhaps you could begin to ease him into becoming the female for you." She stood up and patted Kurama on the shoulder than left the dorm room and shut the door quietly.

A few minutes after she had left, Kurama spoke to the room in general, "Oh shit. I have to convince him to have our next child." He was glad he still had a month before his next semester started.


	12. Grievances

Chapter 12: Grievances

"So…you're trying to tell me that I have to become a woman again if we want more kids?" Hiei said, seemingly taking the news Kurama had just given him better than Kurama thought he would. The fire yokai's face was blank and expressionless, but his tone of voice was hinting on dangerous. But that was usually what his voice sounded like, so Kurama assumed that Hiei was merely thinking the prospect of having to become a female once more over.

"Hmm…" Hiei muttered, not looking at Kurama, but looking everywhere else around where the two of them sat in their new, separate quarters from Ki and Kage, who had taken over their old quarters and turned it into a miniature version of a carnival. His eyes roved over the high window sill up on the east wall, with afternoon sun just barely providing lighting for the smaller bedroom. There was no large floor-to-ceiling window here, which made Hiei uncomfortable. There was a very large, very comfortable king size bed with plain white sheets and a silken comforter of black on it and a small oak table with two chairs that currently held their designated occupants and several sheaves of paper with notes and plans on them, and a smaller, yet still rather grand full-size bathroom.

The redhead across from him, he knew, was staring at the side of his head avidly, awaiting his response. The idea of having to carry another child to term was repulsive, especially since the first one, Kage, had been unwelcomed and was currently causing him unfound problems with the so-called Serenius. But the idea of having another excuse to be with Kurama again was somewhat appealing. Hiei had been visiting Kurama almost four times a week over the past few months in an attempt to get the fox-demon pregnant. He enjoyed these moments with him, but he had had the express belief that if the fox did get pregnant, it would be _his_ responsibility to take care of the whelp and not Hiei's. In fact, he recalled, hadn't that been the agreement between the two of them, when Kurama had suggested creating a sibling for their first child? Hadn't the fox sworn he would take responsibility for _both_ of their children once the second was born? That had been the only reason Hiei had initially agreed to these nightly visits.

Yes, he, if he was being truly honest with himself, loved the little bugger who had become his son Kage, but the whelp was more hassle than he was benefit and Hiei had more enjoyable ways to spend his time than trying to watch out for a child that was now glued to the side of the annoying and irascible Ki. _And there's the problem_, he thought. If they were to keep Serenius off their butts, Ki would _have _to stay with Kage, and if Hiei wished to be with his son, he would therefore have to put up with the cat demon. Was his desire to be with Kage enough to have to spend every day with the child? _I think not_, was his unhesitant answer.

And there was his answer to Kurama's question. Rather than letting his anger that was bubbling just under the surface rise, Hiei said in a measured voice, "If what you are saying is the truth then perhaps are meetings will have to end. I have no desire to rear another whelp, as you well know. Also, this does not follow along with our previous agreement. I'm sorry, but I'll have to say no."

Kurama was so surprised by the even voice in which Hiei responded to his statement that it took him a moment to comprehend what Hiei had actually just said. When the meaning of them came to him, Kurama frowned at his lover's words.

"So…just like that? You're going to end our relationship just like that?" He said, his own anger coming out in his voice.

"Yes." Hiei said, his self-control cracking. He desired nothing but to slash open the stupid fox demon in front of him and end this whole disagreement now, but he was hoping it might be possible for the two of them to meet up every so often; or at least when Hiei wanted to.

Kurama sighed heavily. He reached forward slowly across the table, a look of yearning in his eyes. Hiei continued to ignore his attempts at making eye-contact, though, and Kurama pulled his hand back swiftly then said in a sad voice, "And I thought we were finally past the leaving part."

"Well, I guess you were wrong. You should have known I only came because I thought you were going to have to carry the whelp. I wanted you to understand the pain you have to go through to have a kid so you could understand how much I hate you for getting me pregnant eight years ago." Hiei's eyebrows turned down in his anger and he gripped his sword a little tighter.

"But…but you love Kage-san. I know you do." Kurama said defensivly.

Hiei gave a derisive laugh. He was itching to at least cut off Kurama's hands so that he could no longer reach across the table in an attempt to touch him, but he fought it as hard as he could. It was not in his nature to deny himself the pleasure of cutting someone up, but he did, in fact, have deeper feelings for the fox than even he himself understood and was therefore unable to hurt Kurama. He responded to Kurama's statement with a grunt of denial, but he knew that Kurama knew it was just him being too stubborn to admit his love for his child out loud.

"I said I was sorry. You know I would have had Kage if I could have. Can we at least stay together for a while longer? Maybe the prophecy is wrong, maybe I can get pregnant and I just haven't yet."

Finally, Hiei turned his ruby-red eyes towards Kurama's emerald-green ones. "No. Serenius isn't lying to us, and you know it. He was right about Kage, he'll be right about us. I'm going back to the demon plane, where I belong. I'll be back tomorrow for training, but don't expect my answer to have changed." Hiei stood up and moved away from the table and towards the door. Before he left, he shot one last glance at Kurama to see that the fox was holding back tears he knew would fall once he left.

"Why is Kurama-kun so sad-looking today?" Ki asked, jumping on Kurama's back as the group of friends gathered for that day's training. She peered into his red-rimmed eyes with a pout on her face. Kage stood next to Hiei, but kept glancing at Ki, wanting her next to him instead of on his father's back.

"I'm fine, Ki-san."Kurama said, pulling her off of him. He set her down next to Hi, who was standing on his right and begged her silently to restrain her younger sister. Hi acquiesced and grabbed on to Ki's wrist with a death-grip that Ki struggled fruitlessly against until Yuna said "Enough, Ki." She relaxed, her ears drooping and her tail, which had been still, began twitching with agitation.

Before she could protest, however, Koenma approached all of them with the shield oni and said to the group at large, "Same old, same old today, team. Tomorrow I'll need Kurama and Yusuke to go on a scouting mission, but for today, just practice with my oni and mock-battle with each other. Never hurts to stay in shape." He left the training grounds where another pair of mean-looking oni re-flanked him.

Hiei, who had already successfully attacked the shield oni, nearly killing one of them, disappeared into the forest around the grounds and Kurama's eyes followed him sadly. Yuna, Yusuke, and Hi did not miss this scene, but all chose not to comment on it, not wanting to face Kurama or Hiei's wrath for it later. Instead, Yusuke teamed up with Kuwabara and both worked together to zero in on the shield oni. Yuna and Hi sat back on the ground and watched as Kage and Ki did the same thing. Kurama joined in with Yusuke and Kuwabara, taking turns to double team the oni.

"So…you told Kurama what we heard?" Hi asked quietly, continuing to stare at her younger sister's attempts to attack the short, fat oni.

"Yes." Was Yuna's simple response.

"And…obviously Kurama's told Hiei. Looks like Hiei didn't take it too well, though." Hi looked over at Yuna just in time to see her nod sadly. "What were they thinking?" She said, mildly curious and highly entertained.

"You are a little too thrilled that they have split, Hi. Despite the evidence, Hiei does actually love Kurama, he is simply too stubborn to admit it to himself or to anyone else for that matter."

"Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?" Hi retorted.

Yuna frowned at her sister. "I suppose so, though the dream will not become a reality, I think."

"I think I've got a shot. Just a little bit of alcohol, keep Kurama at bay, and maybe what happened with the two of them will happen with Hiei and me." Hi grinned evilly. She'd liked the little fiery demon since the first time they'd met, and had wanted to make him hers since she'd heard he'd gotten pregnant with the stupid fox demon. Only Yuna knew that her teasing remarks and snide comments about the two of them were really backed by a burning desire to take Hiei for herself. Yuna had kindly consented to tell no one, not even Ki, because Hi wasn't very happy that there really wasn't any chance of her ever being with Hiei.

"I think you are kidding yourself if you think that will work the same way. Hiei already liked Kurama back then he was just too stubborn to allow Kurama to make any moves towards him."

"Well…anyway, so what _were_ they thinking?" Hi asked, shrugging.

"Apparently Kurama sat Hiei down last night and told him everything that I told him. Hiei was confused and frustrated by the news. Hiei did consider choosing to be with Kurama despite this information, but he was displeased with the idea of having to carry another child to full-term and having to deal with Ki. He believes that he will never have another silent moment with his son because Ki must be with him at all times and as this is true, I cannot blame him for being disgruntled for it. He has also seriously considered disbanding from the Urameshi Team and going back to the demon plane, but he believes that he will receive the chance of getting his hands on Serenius and other large prey if he stays with us.

"Kurama, for his part, is completely distraught and has no idea how to get Hiei back. He desires nothing more than to simply _be_ with Hiei, but he knows the truth of what Hiei told him about only wanting Kurama to understand the humiliation of having a child and cannot therefore see a way to convince Hiei to stick with him."

"So…it's like the world's greatest soap opera, basically."

"What is this 'soap opera' to which you are referring to?" Yuna asked, looking at Hi with a befuddled look on her face.

Hi laughed, but there was no humor in her voice. "A soap opera is a human television show that involves a lot of drama and people who believe that everyone else is out to get them or has wronged them."

"Oh." Yuna said thoughtfully. "I suppose that is an adequate comparison then."

"Yeah…" Hi said, turning her focus back on the seven people still fighting each other.

"Shall we spar, as we do not require any training with the oni?" Yuna asked.

"Wh-? Oh…sure." Hi said and stood up. Orange fireballs burst out of her palms and she began spinning in a wide circle, creating a massive wall of fire that drew everyone else's attention to her. Out of the middle of it, a phoenix rose into the air, bringing with it a trail of immense heat and raging fire that shot straight towards Yuna, who moved out of the way and chose to spin instead in a very tight, very small circle that suddenly blurred the lines of her profile and made her onlookers dizzy at the sight. A gust of wind kicked up out of nowhere and blew the raging fire away, exposing a suddenly manic Hi, who stood in its dead center.

Kurama and the others watched in awe as the two S-class sisters fought each other with such ferocity that they had to move back several yards for fear of being burned to death or being blown halfway across Reikai.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour, Hi dealt the death-blow-or, rather, the almost death-blow. Having the advantage over her older sister as far as elements were, she formed a final fire ball in both of her hands and combined them together to create one rather large fire ball that she kissed like a lover kisses their lover and hurled it towards her sister, who was now entrapped in a cage of fiery spider webs. Yuna gazed at the web as if she thought it the most beautiful thing in the world and smiled as Hi threw the giant fireball towards her. She seemingly was unable to teleport out of her cage and was therefore unable to deflect the hit that came a few seconds later. Well, almost came. At the very last second, a water bubble appeared within the fire web and engulfed Yuna in its sphere. The web sizzled and blew out, and when the fireball hit, it was swallowed up by a watery cat's mouth that came out of the water ball.

"Why did you try to hurt Senpai, Onee-san?" Ki shouted, suddenly standing between the two.

Hi rolled her eyes and relaxed from her fighting stance, slowly making her way towards where Ki stood with her arms out defensively. "We were _playing_, Ki. I wasn't _actually_ going to hit her with the fire ball. Besides, Yuna'd have found a way out of the cage anyway. You know that, why did you have to butt in?" She stood in front of Ki with her hands on her hips, looking at Ki admonishingly.

"B—but you looked like you were actually going to hit her!" Ki said, trying to defend her mistake.

Hi rolled her eyes again and said in a sarcastic voice, "That was the idea, moron." Ki's eyes began to water, and Yuna, sensing a tantrum, came to Ki's rescue. She stepped up next to Ki from behind and put a reassuring hand on Ki's shoulder.

"You did fine, Ki. Thank you for protecting me." Yuna said, giving Ki a warm smile that made Ki smile in return. Yuna turned to Hi. "You know you should not provoke her. What if you get her angry and she ends up repeating what happened ten years ago?" Hi looked like she had just been slapped, but nodded her agreement to Yuna's statement.

"You're right…of course." Hi said mutinously. She turned to Ki and said, "Sorry, Ki. I didn't mean to upset you, I just got upset 'cause you interrupted my fight with Yuna."

Ki nodded, and ran forward, latching herself onto the fire demon who pulled away but didn't entirely retract herself from her sister's hug. She looked like she wanted to vomit but didn't want to upset Ki again. Soon, Ki was her hyper self and it seemed as if nothing had happened at all. She ran over to Kage and whispered something in his ear and then the two of them ran off into the surrounding forest.

"What happened ten years ago?" Yusuke asked, staring at the two remaining sisters.

Hi looked at Yuna, as if asking for confirmation that telling the story was okay and then spoke in a somber voice, "Ten years ago, it was just Yuna and me. Yuna had come down from Reikai to find her two sisters that she had never met and found me in the demon plane; I was only eight at the time. I was living on the outskirts on one of the lesser demon villages and scouring the houses for food at night. I got beaten up a lot and my powers weren't as honed as they are now so I didn't use them a lot. They were usually more likely to draw attention to my whereabouts than to help me out of a sticky situation.

"Anyway, so Yuna came to me in the early morning as I was making a bed for the day and spoke with me, telling me who she was and that we were related through our mother, who had been a spirit guide with a reputation for sleeping around. She told me that my mother had had her with one of the lord's of Enma's court and she married him after several years in an attempt to stop her promiscuity and so that they could raise Yuna together. But our mother wanted to find her other children that she had had with her other lovers after Yuna was born and so she sent Yuna out to find them after Yuna was able to teleport.

"I couldn't believe that my mother would be a lady of the Reikai court and didn't believe Yuna at first, but I followed her in the belief that perhaps I would be able to get better food if we went back to our mother. Well, when my mother saw me, she was overcome with joy and asked her husband to accept me as his own daughter, which he did. Dad's a very nice man and very understanding of what his wife did in her youth. But Mom still wanted to find the other three kids she had had with other yokai and so she sent the both of us out together to find them.

"We found my brothers on a farm in the United States, they hadn't discovered that they were demons yet and were living with a middle-aged human couple that weren't able to have children and adopted my brothers as babies from the orphanage."

"Where are your brothers now then?" Kurama asked, intrigued by this new information.

"They're dead." Hi said matter-of-factly.

"I—I'm sorry." Kurama said sympathetically.

Hi shrugged and continued her monologue. "Yeah…they died of the human flu just a year after we had found them. We had left them with their adopted parents because they seemed happy there and we didn't want to uproot them. We were planning on talking to them once they were adults and had left the farm, but we went back to check on them once we found Ki and they were dead.

"Anyway…so about half a year after we found our brothers, we were following a lead Yuna had gotten about a cat demon child that was being used as a sideshow exhibit in a traveling circus. We weren't sure if it was our sister, but we decided to investigate because Mom had said she had had a child with a cat demon once.

"When we finally caught up with the circus, we found Ki, in rags, sitting on a rock in the fetal position, bawling her eyes out and screaming bloody murder. She had killed at least three hundred people, their bodies were strewn across the ground around where she sat and the circus tents, cars, and other things were all on their sides, buried beneath newly made pools of water."

"S—she k—killed _all_ those people?" Kuwabara said, flabbergasted.

Hi nodded. "Apparently, she was used as a form of amusement for people to look at because of her strange features. I mean, if you were a regular human, it would be pretty strange to see a little girl with cat ears, a tail, and demon markings, wouldn't it?" Her audience nodded silently. "We're not entirely sure what made her crack so that she killed everyone, but Yuna says she saw in Ki's head that a little boy had pulled on her tail and that that set her off. She drowned all those humans in her water balls."

The three men looked at each other in awe. Learning that such a cute, seemingly defenseless child could kill so many people in such a short amount of time was scary to think about.

"No wonder she's perfect for Kage…they're both killing machines…" Yusuke said, half-heartedly trying to make a joke. No one laughed.

"I must ask all of you to keep this to yourself. And to try to stay on her good side because it is entirely possible that either one of them will set the other off. They are both perfect for each other and disastrous together." Yuna said solemnly and the three men nodded in agreement.

The day was darkening and Kuwabara said over his growling stomach, "Who's up for some good, ol' fashioned bar food? I'm getting kind of sick of the food here. S'not nearly as good as food from home."

Yusuke smiled and punched Kuwabara on the arm, causing Kuwabara to howl in pain and grab his arm. "What the hell was that for?"

"Sorry! Sorry! I was just trying to lighten the mood and say that your idea sounded good to me!" Yusuke said, dancing around Kuwabara's attempts to punch him back.

Kurama rolled his eyes and said, "That sounds fine to me, as well. Would you two care to join us?"

"Sure." Hi said, grinning.

"Someone should stay to keep an eye on our young ones, so I will go ahead and do that." Yuna stated, looking in the direction they all knew she could sense Ki and Kage in.

Kurama smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "Hiei will watch them, Yuna-san. Don't worry about it. If you'd like to come, you can."

Before Yuna could speak, Hi said over her, "But I was going to invite Hiei, too. It's not a party without the little runt, is it?"

Yuna smiled and gave a knowing smile to her younger sister who shrugged. "There you are, Kurama; I will stay and watch the children. Unless you are opposed to Hiei joining you guys?"

"No. No, of course not." Kurama said a little too quickly.

Kuwabara, not catching on, asked bluntly, "Why wouldn't he want his little lovebird to come with us?"

Yusuke glared and punched Kuwabara's other arm, causing him to howl in pain again. This time Yusuke didn't give a response to Kuwarbara's howled protests, however.

"Sorry, man. You don't have to answer that." Yusuke said apologetically to Kurama, who thanked him with a look.

"Let's go out then!" Hi said, suddenly hyper.

The six of them all met at a small Japanese restaurant/bar that was in the traditional style and therefore had a private room that they were able to get. They ordered a long list of beverages, including sake and Japanese beer along with different appetizers to help wash down the alcohol.

By the time an hour had gone by, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei were all smashed, and Hi was not too far behind, secretly trying to keep herself sober enough to keep Hiei full of alcohol. Kurama sat sipping on chilled sake, his favorite adult beverage and watched the mayhem that occurred when his friends had too much alcohol.

It started with the dinner at the restaurant and then they moved on to a karaoke bar, where Kurama and the rest were forced to listen to Kuwabara's horrible singing voice and him hogging the microphone, even though Yusuke kept trying to usurp his position. And of course there was the added bonus of more booze. After about one in the morning, Kurama chose to leave, having gotten sick of listening to Kuwabara and Yusuke prattle over who was allowed to sing the next song.

As soon as he left, Hi slunked over to the corner in which Hiei was perched, quietly drinking the canned beer that had been brought in by the waitress.

Hiei, who was so far gone he wasn't entirely sure where he was, watched Hi approaching him and sat down on the couch instead of perching on it like he had been. He wasn't sure why, but the other fire demon seemed a lot less annoying after he had had so many beers in him.

"So, you don't want to sing, Hiei?" Hi said, now sitting so close to Hiei that her leg was rubbing next to his.

Hiei shook his head and stared at the black-eyed demon. "What do you want?" He said rather harshly. He looked down at her leg touching his and found to his surprise that he didn't mind.

Hi lifted up her left arm and put her hand on the inside of Hiei's thigh. "You." She said and kissed him full on the lips. Hiei was stunned at the sudden brashness of Hi and therefore didn't pull away at first. After a couple seconds, though, he knew something was wrong and shoved her away, but not before he had accidently groped her chest. _It's so soft!_ He thought, wondering why her chest would be so much softer than Kurama's. Then he seemed to recall out of the blue that she was a true female, and therefore had breasts, which were therefore softer than a man's flat chest. He found he kind of liked the feeling of her breasts under his hands and gently grabbed one of them when Hi leaned back in. It was very soft, he mused, and it seemed to fit just right in his hand, as if it was meant for him to hold. He began squeezing it softly than harder and suddenly Hi was moaning in ecstasy and although he had never heard her make those noises before, he knew what they meant because he had so often heard Kurama make them when he kissed the fox in secret places and had made them himself when Kurama had done the same to him.

He suddenly felt his groin area tighten and was mildly surprised to know that he was turned on by Hi's obvious signs of pleasure. He therefore increased the pressure with which he was squeezing her breast and grabbed hold of the other one and began groping that one also. Hi was suddenly on top on him and grinding and it was too much for poor Hiei. He was suddenly unaware that Kuwabara and Yusuke had snuck out to leave them alone and even if he had realized that they were no longer in the room, he didn't think he would have cared just then.

The next day Hiei woke up in a room he knew was in the Reikai Palace, but wasn't either of the ones he had stayed in with Kurama. His head was pounding like something was trying to get out and as soon as he was conscious, he leaned over the bed and threw up on the floor, gagging until everything was out of his system.

There was an eager knock on the door and a blue oni bustled in, saw that Hiei had thrown up and immediately left once more, only to return with a mop and a bucket.

After the oni had finished cleaning up after Hiei's sick, he ran out once more and came back with a new bucket, which he place on top of the mess he had just cleaned up.

"How are you feeling, Hiei-san?" The oni said and suddenly Hiei realized it was actually a female.

"Like Hell." Hiei responded weakly and rolled over onto his side, away from the oni.

"Is there anything I can get for you, sir?"

"No. Now leave me alone." Hiei said, suddenly angry. He heard the oni leaving in a hurry and turned back onto the side with the bucket. He sighed and closed his eyes again. He hadn't gotten as drunk as he was last night since….but he'd rather not think of that right now. He would have to ask the rest of the team what had happened as he could only recall having gone from the restaurant in the Ningenkai to the place where the idiots attempted to sing. The rest, if there was anything else, was all an incoherent blur.

He suddenly woke up again and found that a few hours had passed and there was a tray with a bowl of probably cold soup and a glass of water that had precipitation from the melted ice cubes on it on the desk next to the bed. He half-rose half-crawled over to it and pulled the cup of water up to his lips and started taking slow even sips. He was afraid he might upset his stomach again and start hurling up the water.

After he had consumed about half of the cup, he laid back down and fell back to sleep.

He woke up again and found that it was evening and the tray had been replaced by another, fresher one. The ice cubes in the water were still intact and there was a steady stream of steam coming up from the bowl of soup. He rose up onto his arm again and slowly moved up into a sitting position and then he realized he was being watched. His hand automatically went down to where he usually kept his sword sheath, but it wasn't there. Then he realized it was just Kurama. He sighed and then relaxed, reaching for the tray with the food on it.

Kurama was suddenly at the side of the bed and took the cup of water off the tray then handed it to Hiei. Hiei took it from him and picked up the spoon and began ladling some of the chicken broth into his mouth. He felt almost immediately better after the first gulp and realized the cooks had probably added some special healing herbs into it for him.

"How are you feeling?" Kurama said tentatively.

"Better." Hiei said without looking at the redhead.

"Do you…remember everything that happened last night?"

"Yes."Hiei said without thinking then said, "No. Not everything. I remember up until we started drinking at the second place. Were you there for the entire night?"

"No. I left around one in the morning. Kuwabara and Yusuke left around two. They said that you were still in the room with Hi."

"Are you sure they're not lying? Why the hell would I ever be alone in a room with that idiot?" Hiei said, scared of where this conversation might be going.

Kurama sat down on the edge of Hiei's bed. "No, unfortunately I know for certain that they're not lying. Hi confirmed their story. In fact, she gave me in rather vivid detail what happened. She seemed rather proud of herself."

Hiei looked at Kurama with horror in his eyes. He ladled another mouthful of soup into his mouth without really thinking about it, waiting for Kurama to confirm his fears.

"It seems alcohol is the key to getting you to put out, Hiei. You obviously blocked it out of your head but you had—"

"Don't say it!" Hiei shouted, broth dribbling down his chin; he'd forgotten to swallow.

Kurama looked at him with pity in his eyes. "I knew you couldn't have done that willingly. I know you too well to think that was possible. It still hurts that you did that with someone else, though." He frowned then spoke up again. "But I suppose you are technically a free agent now. I guess I'm just shocked it was so soon after." The green-eyed man turned away from Hiei to hide the tears welling up in his eyes. Hiei took this opportunity to fix his face into a scowl instead of the look of pain and surprise he had been wearing after Kurama's words. When Kurama turned back to face him, he had his usual look of smug indifference and began spooning more broth into his mouth.

"Well," Kurama said, standing up. "I just came to make sure you were okay. I knew you'd be hung over for most of today so I told Koenma-sama that you, Kuwabara-san and Yusuke-san would most likely be out for the day. He wasn't too happy, but he certainly had me work your share instead." Kurama gave an attempt at a smile but it fell almost as soon as it rose. "I'll leave you alone now. Good night." He walked out of the room like he was being chased out and Hiei watched him go, his head pounding and his heart aching.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

It was late in the morning after the Urameshi Team had gone out drinking together with Hi. Kurama had just woken up and felt the lack of sleep pressing into his temples. He was horrified to think of how hung-over the others were if he was feeling the little alcohol he had consumed. Then again, it had been years since he had drunk any alcohol at all, it wasn't much of a surprise that it would affect him like this.

He got out of the bed he was in, which happened to be his dorm-room bed and not the bedroom that Koenma had set up for just him and Hiei and walked over to the small closet-bathroom and began preparing for his job with Yusuke for the day, though he doubted Yusuke's ability to join him, knowing how much of a heavy drinker Yusuke was.

Once he was dressed and fed, he hopped out of the window of his room and walked down a few side streets and alleyways amongst the Oxford campus until he came upon the nearly indiscernible shape of a breach in the fabric on the world that marked the entrance to the Reikai. He traveled through it and made his way through the forest surrounding the magnificent palace until he reached the clearing that marked the training grounds Koenma had also had set up for the Urameshi Team's use. Koenma was there with his usual bodyguards, looking rather peeved that Yusuke wasn't there yet and that Kurama had taken so long.

"Why are you here so late, Kurama?" The son of the great Enma-same asked.

"I apologize, Koenma-sama. The group went out drinking last night until rather late and I just woke up about an hour ago. I have a feeling that Yusuke-san will be indisposed for the rest of the day, along with the rest, including Hi-san."

Koenma looked disgruntled and began muttering to himself. Finally, after almost a minute of angry mutterings, he spoke aloud, saying, "Well, I guess we'll just have to have you do the scouting mission."

Kurama nodded and listened as Koenma gave him the details for his scouting mission for the day. After Koenma was done, Kurama made his way to the one entrance to the demon plane and went through.

It was a little after noon when Kurama came and relayed the information he had gathered about the whereabouts and actions of an S-class demon Reikai was keeping tabs on at the moment. He had almost been discovered by the goons the demon had around him but was able to pass himself off as a resident of the city they were in.

Now that his duties for the day were over, he decided it was time to find out what had occurred after he had left the karaoke bar the previous night. He made his way to the rooms where he knew Kuwabara and Yusuke would be holed up with their hang-overs. He knocked on Yusuke's door first and heard a grunted "C'min." He entered the spacious room to find Yusuke on the large bed looking green.

"Hey, Kurama." Yusuke said in a low voice.

"Good afternoon, Yusuke-san. I see you are regretting your lack of couth now." Kurama said as he entered the room and shut the door.

Yusuke gave a half-smile. He knew Kurama was right and was too worn out to argue.

"Yeah…but how about you?" Yusuke said.

"I'm fine. You'll be glad to know Koenma-same wasn't too put out by your absence for the espionage mission."

"I think he was just good at disguising it in front of you, Kurama. He came in here a couple hours ago and ranted on about how irresponsible I am and blahdy-blah blah." Yusuke waved his hand as if he could swat away Koenma's anger. Kurama chuckled and Yusuke joined in. "Why'd you leave so early last night, anyway?"

"Because I knew I had to get up this morning to go on our mission."

"Oh." Yusuke said simple. "Well, what can I do for you? Obviously I won't be doing anything until tomorrow at the earliest."

Kurama pulled a chair from the small desk near the large window and sat it down next to Yusuke's bed then placed himself on it.

"I was wondering if you could tell me what happened last night at the karaoke bar after I left." The fox demon said.

Yusuke suddenly looked guilty and said like he was scared of Kurama's response. "N—not much. As soon as you left, well…just don't shoot me, okay? Hi started coming on to Hiei and we think they…well, you know…" He looked down at the bedsheets.

Kurama's voice reached him and it seemed a little too even to be right. "Oh. Is that what happened? Well, why aren't you sure if it actually occurred or not?"

Yusuke looked up and saw the hurt there in Kurama's green eyes. He was apparently just managing to hold back his swelling emotions. "Because we left once they started making out, figuring it was best to leave them alone."

Kurama opened his mouth to respond, said nothing, and then closed it after a few seconds. The tears were threatening to come and he had no desire to let them fall in the company of Yusuke, even if they had spend several years fighting together. Before either one of the men could say anything else, there was another knock on the door and Kuwabara stumbled in.

"S'up?" He mumbled and fell on top of Yusuke's bed next to where Yusuke sat. He peered blearily up at both Kurama and Yusuke then closed both of his eyes and mumbled in a slightly more audible voice: "Heard you guys through the wall. Look, Kurama, man, I'm sorry, 'kay? I don't know what Hiei was thinking, but he obviously was totally drunk and probably didn't mean to do the nasty with Hi." He yawned hugely and his body began to relax like he was falling asleep.

"Well, it's not my concern anymore who Hiei decides to 'do the nasty' with. We've…decided it would be best not to continue our…relationship, I guess you could call it." Kurama said, his voice beginning to crack.

Kuwabara opened his eyes again a little wider than the last time and said in a surprised voice, "Really? I thought you guys were getting pretty hot n' heavy."

"Yes, well, that ended almost as soon as it began."

"You should get him back, man. You guys've been together for forever. Besides, Hi trying to take your man…don't you think the dissension in the troops, so to speak, will show whenever Serenius decides to come calling again. He could totally use that to his advantage if he wanted to break us apart from the sisters." Kuwabara muttered, his eyes closed once more.

Kurama and Yusuke stared at Kuwabara, both of them looking at the carrot-top as if he was a foreign species. They rarely heard Kuwabara say anything practical and when they did it was always a time of confusion for the rest of the Urameshi Team. Kurama looked up and met Yusuke's eyes and knew that Yusuke was thinking the same thing he was: Kuwabara had actually brought up a very good, very valid point in their current circumstances.

"Good point, Kuwabara-san. I suppose I'll have to go settle this with Hi-san then." Kurama rose up from his seat and began walking towards the door. Before he reached it, he turned back to the other two and said, "Thank you for letting me know about last night." And then he left and headed towards where Hi and Yuna were staying inside the Reikai Palace.

Kurama knocked on a set of double doors with inlaid gold on the perimeters and with solid gold door handles. There was the sound of movement inside and then Yuna's face appeared on the other side of the door. She smiled when she saw Kurama and let him in.

"I will go get Hi for you." She said, proffering him a seat on a black leather sofa that was next to another floor-to-ceiling window that had the curtains pulled back all the way so that the afternoon sun shone in and dazzled Kurama's unadjusted eyes.

Yuna came in a few minutes later with Hi tagging along.

When Hi saw Kurama, her face lit up in a malicious grin and she sauntered over to a matching lazy-boy chair where she sat down on top of her legs and stared at him expectantly. Yuna, seemingly deciding that her presence was needed to deter a fight from happening, sat down on the other side of the sofa from where Kurama was now perched on the very edge.

"What do _you_ want?" Hi said snarkily.

"I would like to know why you came on to Hiei last night."

"Because I _like_ him, that's why." Hi responded like it was more than obvious.

"And that was reason enough to incapacitate him and have your way with him?"

"Well, duh." Hi said, then, before she could stop herself, she said, "And it didn't seem like there was any incapacitation either. He seemed more than willing to comply with my request. In fact, after I kissed him, he began feeling me up. Seems he likes a real woman when he sees one."

Kurama's fingers balled into fists and his knuckles turned whit with his effort to not leap up and strangle the fire demon right then. He took a deep, calming breath and said with conviction, "He was inebriated, and he's confused right now about what he wants. You were probably just used as stress relief."

It was Hi's turn to resist her desire to hurt the man in front of her. Instead she chose to fight fire with fire…so to speak. "Well, if that was the case, it certainly didn't seem like it was. He seemed perfect happy to be with me. Besides, you guys are through; you can't have kids and he doesn't want to have any more of your whelps. It's time he moved on to someone who can provide him with kids without him having to change his sex."

"That may be true…but I won't give him up so easily." Kurama said, his voice beginning to tremble from the force of his conviction.

"Neither will I." Hi said with just as much conviction.

Yuna, who had been silent for this entire conversation, finally spoke. "Kuwabara has brought up a very valid point, Kurama. Hi, perhaps you can at least agree to put off this disagreement until we are finished dealing with Serenius?"

"Why should I stop now? If I do, I might miss the chance to make him mine. It'd be better to press my advantage now before he decided he wants to pretend our encounter was just a dream or a mistake." Hi said stubbornly.

"Yes, but if we are to fight Serenius together, it would be best for there not to be any points of contention between our parties. I mean, we cannot easily separate anymore even if we wanted to as we are for all purposes attached to the hip with each other because of Ki and Kage. If we tried to separate them now, it might draw out the demons lurking within them, so to speak." Kurama argued, trying to buy himself some time without saying blatantly that that was what he was trying to do.

"I've waited long enough. I'm not waiting anymore." Hi said and disappeared in a ball of fire. Her last look of contempt was still etched on the insides of Kurama's eyes so that when he closed them out of shear frustration, he could see her face behind his eyelids.

"Please do not look upon her too harshly, Kurama. She has never been as attached as she is to Hiei with anyone else. I am fully aware that she is fighting a losing battle when it comes to him, as is she, but she is still young and will therefore continue to fight. It does not help that she is naturally a hothead, too." Yuna whispered softly.

"Yes, but did she have to act so soon after Hiei chose to leave me?" Kurama said, choosing to keep his eyes shut against the look of sympathy he was sure was on the ice-demon's face.

"I think you can answer that question yourself, Kurama. She pounced as soon as there was an opening. I agree with your decision to try to stall her until we are done with Serenius, but you must understand what it's like for her. After all, it took years for you to get Hiei to come around for you. Some of us aren't so lucky." Kurama finally opened his eyes to see a sad smile on the beautiful face of Yuna, the Ice-Demon.

"Did you have a similar experience, Yuna-san?" He asked tentatively.

She nodded and said in a somewhat detached voice, "Yes. I fell in love with someone I felt I had a chance of wooing because of my father's status in the Palace, only to find out that the object of my affections, like you, preferred the same sex."

"But who—" Suddenly a image of Koenma popped up in Kurama's head and he didn't know if it was by his own doing or if Yuna had put the image there to answer his question. He gasped as the knowledge hit him and he suddenly had a new level of respect for Yuna and the suffering she had gone through because of her love for someone who would never be able to return it.

"So, because you have personal experience of what it is like to have an unrequited love, please don't think ill of Hi. I will speak with her and get her to hold off, at least until Serenius is killed or captured." Yuna said and gave Kurama a reassuring smile that did actually reassure him.

The fox demon stood up and gave Yuna a half-bow. "Thank you. I think I'm going to go visit Hiei now to see how he is doing. I am entrusting Hi-san to you, Yuna-san."

She nodded and smiled up at him, watching him leave her bedroom. Once he was gone, she rose and disappeared in a gust of wind, on a mission to find and deter her younger sister.

Kurama had just left the room in which Hiei was recovering from his hangover, leaving a rather unusually depressed Hiei in his wake.

Hiei was having an internal battle the likes of which he had never had in his entire life span. The part of him that actually loved Kurama and was able to openly admit it was telling him that he needed to go chase after the fox demon and apologize and tell him that what had happened with the female fire demon was a terrible mistake born out of drunkenness and his naturally rebellious nature. This part of him yearned for Kurama's strong hands and gentle touch and for his pleasant smell that was caused by regular baths and scented shampoo.

The other part of his conscious was denying his part in any wrongdoing and stubbornly insisting that even if he had had sex with the stupid female demon, it wasn't something that was really any of Kurama's business. This less concerned part of him also made the point that he had somewhat enjoyed being intimate with a female rather than a male and that as a single male, he was certainly obliged to doing what he wished, and that anyone who said otherwise was likely to find themselves buried under the ground in quick order.

He half-rose from his bed, determined to yell at the stupid fox a little more, when a burst of nausea hit him like a bullet and he was suddenly throwing up the soup and the water he had just partaken of into the bucket on the side of the bed. He knew as he was throwing up the last of the broth that whatever decision he was going to make would have to wait until he was over this hangover.

The next day, Koenma called the Urameshi Team to his office to give them their new mission, which involved hunting down an escaped convict from the British prison system who was really a rather strong and cunning demon that had let his spawn attack the people in the prison. He was now wanted on suspicion of having killed twenty of his fellow inmates and for breaking out of the prison. Koenma was particularly nervous about this case because the demon was going throughout the country, killing here and there and making his way to the mainland. The son of the king of the Underworld told the Urameshi Team that it would be of the utmost importance that they capture the demon before he was able to reach mainland Europe and gave the four men the approximate location of the escapee.

Yusuke and the rest made their way to the portal that would lead them to a location very near Kurama's dorm room and college and found themselves in a small park on the outskirts of Oxfordshire. Once they had made their way to the main city and were walking around, keeping an eye and ear out for any sign of the demon they were looking for, they suddenly felt the Yokai Sisters' auras and found the three of them walking beside them as if they had been there all along.

"Good morning, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, Kurama." Yuna said politely, nodding to each of them in turn.

"Yo." Hi gave her usual roguish grin.

"Where's Kage-chan?" Ki asked.

Kurama answered her. "We thought you guys were with him. Why are you here now?"

Yuna responded, saying, "We were asked by Koenma to accompany you on this mission to help you contend with the offspring of the demon you are seeking. Apparently, they are quite a handful, in of themselves. Kage was left with the helper oni who assured us that they would keep an eye on him until we were able to return. They have put him into a room that should be able to contain his aura so that he cannot harm anyone while Ki is away from him."

"He should be here with us if you are not going to watch him." Hiei said grumpily. The others had taken Yuna for her word, knowing she would not have left Kage with the oni if she did not believe that it was safe for him to be with them. She rarely ever let them down when she made a decision that may be considered controversial to some, but Hiei didn't like the idea of Kage being anywhere but by his side unless someone he knew he could trust was with him. Yuna fell under that category, even if the other two did not.

"It's fine, Hiei." Yuna said, smiling knowingly down at him. He frowned deeper and began muttering angrily.

The group made their way down the busy London streets, attempting to stick together but continuously being separated from one another as they were such a large group. After an hour of traveling down the busiest streets, they finally walked down a quiet alleyway and decided it would make a lot more sense for them to split into pairs. This caused some dissension as Ki did not want to be with anyone but Kurama and Kurama wished to be with Hiei, but was being prevented from doing so because of Hi, who was choosing to be difficult and began bragging about how Hiei would want to be with her because of the other night.

After about twenty minutes of bickering, it was decided that Ki would join her sisters and Kuwabara would travel with Kurama, leaving Hiei to travel alone with Yusuke. Each set off for a different part of town and decided to meet at a fancy diner that was essentially in the heart of London by the time night fell.

The rest of the day passed without anything happening and when night fell, the six demons and one human met in the designated place. They decided to try again the next day and left for the Reikai.

A week passed from the night when Hiei and Hi had had their fling and the group of fighters had yet to find even a sign of this demon. They were beginning to wonder if the demon had left the human world or had actually managed to make it across the ocean to the mainland, but Koenma assured them that his people would know if this was the case, and so they continued to search the rather large island of England.

On the eighth day of their search, Kurama and Hiei were searching together when they came across a young male acting rather oddly on the corner of a major intersection in London. The young man was singing in a rather loud and obnoxious voice and was stumbling from side to side. He appeared to be rather inebriated, except for the fact that his eyes had turned blood red, which was not a natural human eye color. This is what set Kurama off and he nudged Hiei quietly and nodded his head towards the suspect. Hiei nodded and made to draw his sword, but Kurama put his hand on Hiei's arm to stall him then pointed up at the buildings surrounding them and then down at the man on the street corner. Hiei nodded and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Kurama wasn't far behind.

The young man with scraggy blonde hair was dressed in a business suit that was in a complete state of disarray. He was yelling, more than singing, a rather bawdy song and stumbling around the corner of a major intersection in downtown London. Passerby stared and muttered as they hurried past him to the other side of the street and even though some of them came within feet of the man, he seemed completely unaware of what was going on around him. When an older lady had approached him and offered to call a taxi to take him to his home, he simply ignored her and had hit her across the face when she had tried to touch him. After her attempt, no one else bothered to say anything to him and chose to ignore him and hope he would wander off on his own accord. But he didn't, and by the time Hiei and Kurama had seen him, he had been dancing on his corner for a majority of the day.

Hiei attacked first, coming down on top of the man from the top of the building he had been standing under, and Kurama came at him from behind on the ground, whipping his rose whip around the man's ankles and snaring them together. The man dropped to the ground, his head hitting the ground so hard it made a rather loud noise. Hiei landed on top of the man and put his sword up to the man's throat. It was a good thing it was now nighttime and there weren't very many people around, because they would have screamed bloody murder for sure and called the police, which would have caused more problems than it would have solved.

Hiei pushed the blade of his sword a little closer to the man's jugular vein, causing a small stream of blood to run down the man's neck and he said quietly, "Now, why are you possessing a human's body, scum? Why not show yourself?"

Kurama kept one hand on his rose whip, keeping the man's legs out of commission and kept the other hand ready to make another whip just in case the demon in the man decided to try and run.

The blonde man started laughing sardonically and his eyes rolled up into his sockets and his face became slack. The next thing that happened was that a small tentacle came out of the man's open mouth and began feeling its way out of it. Next came a couple more tentacles and then the body of a rather disgusting-looking creature. It's body was that of an octopus, but it had several horns sticking out of its tiny head and blood-red eyes that darted from Hiei to Kurama with laughter in them. It sat on top of the now-dead man's face and spoke in a hoarse and very deep voice.

"Why, if it isn't Kurama and Hiei. What have you two been up to, other than attacking me?"

"Yama?" Kurama said, staring at the small creature with a look of disgust on his face. He let go of the blonde's legs and let his whip retract.

"You are correct, Kurama. It is I, Yama, your old acquaintance. Now, why are you guys trying to kill me?"

Hiei jumped backwards off of the man's body and glared down at the little demon. "We have no reason to answer you, scum." He said, venom in his voice.

The octopus began laughing once more and started shifting shapes again. He seemed to grow in height by several feet and his tentacles became arms and legs and suddenly a bald and very ugly man stood where the octopus had been-on top of the poor human's face.

"If someone was trying to kill you, you would want to know why, wouldn't you, Hiei?" Yama asked in the same deep voice.

"Yes, but you should already know the reason why were going to kill you." Hiei countered.

This made Yama laugh again and when he had stopped he shrugged and said, "So I escaped from that human prison. 'Tweren't no biggie. I had better things to do than sit in that cell, what with all of the good food gone. But of course you guys are now the lapdogs of the son of the Underworld, so of course you'd be after me. Sorry, boys, but I'm obviously not gonna make it easy." The demon turned tail and ran away, causing Hiei and Kurama to begin chasing him.

They ran down streets and alleyways, chasing the rather fast demon over rooftops and on the sidewalks, passing some very confused humans who were still out and walking around. After ten minutes of chasing Yama, they suddenly saw him stop dead in his tracks in front of a large warehouse on the outskirts of the city and freeze. They snuck up behind him and Kurama caught him around the middle with his rose whip, but Yama didn't seem to even notice this action. He was staring at the door to the warehouse with something almost like sadness on his ugly features. He began to walk forward and collapsed, causing Kurama's arm to jolt with the sudden new position.

Out of the blue, a voice reached them from on top of the warehouse and they all looked up to find Yuna there, her light blue hair blowing softly in the breeze.

"Your suspicions are correct, Yama. We have gotten rid of every last one of your children. I apologize, but your use of them made this necessary." Yuna bowed her head in apparent sadness.

"You bitch!" Yama suddenly shouted, standing up and making to jump up next to Yuna. Kurama pulled on the rose whip to prevent this and Yama became suddenly aware of his predicament. "You murdered my kids!"

Yuna opened her eyes and they were suddenly as cold as the ice that she controlled. "And you and your offspring killed hundreds of humans. And eye for an eye, as the saying goes, Yama. Now, you have two options at the moment: you can either quietly allow us to escort you to the Reikai prison, or if you decide to fight us, we will most certainly be inside our rights to kill you, just as we had to do to your children. Which will you decide?"

The demon on the ground glared up at the one on top of the warehouse and appeared to be seriously considering the options that Yuna had given him. It may have been that he was also calculating the best way to escape the clutches of the three yokai that were holding him captive. Either way, after several silent moments, he hung his head and held out his hands like a human prisoner ready to be handcuffed. Yuna glided down to the ground and approached the demon cautiously. Once she was within arm's reach, Yama shrunk back down to his octopus self and slipped out of Kurama's restraints, making his way towards the street that led back to the rest of London. Yuna exchanged glances with Kurama and Hiei and then the three of them chased after the other demon.

They caught up with him when they ran into Yusuke and Kuwabara, who were blocking Yama's escape. The octopus demon screamed, frustrated, "How many of you are there, exactly?"

"There's lots of us, Yama." Hi said, appearing in a burst of fire directly behind him. Ki appeared next to her and immediately enveloped Yama in a bubble which slowly began filling up with water.

"You killed lots of poor people, you meanie!" She cried, and the water increased in pressure, causing the bubble to fill up faster until Yama was floating in a miniature sea of water with no way to get out. The seven of them slowly watched him drown and die, none of them smiling in satisfaction…well, none of them except Hi and Hiei, who enjoyed watching others suffer.

The group made their way back to the Reikai with the body of their victim as proof of their exploits and were met with congratulations from Koenma and his staff, including Botan, who had just come back from her soul-ferrying duties.

All seemed well except for one thing that was continuously on the minds of all of the group: where was Serenius and what was he up to?


	14. Predictions

Chapter 14: Predictions

Time has a way of speeding up so much that one blinks and a week will go by. This proved to be true as Spring came and went and Summer approached rapidly. Kurama was on his last week of the semester and close to finishing his second-to-last year of college before he was ready to enroll in a Masters program at Oxford. Business was occurring as usual in the Reikai, except that with the good weather, there was an uprising of crimes, usually petty ones, being perpetrated by demons of different classes. The rise in crime (so to speak) was so much that Koenma became swamped by paperwork and meetings and was therefore unable to personally give the Urameshi Team and the Yokai Sisters their jobs. Botan therefore was forced to step in and had to cut her soul-ferrying job to only part-time so that she had enough time to ensure the missions were completed and done correctly.

Hi was constantly attempting to get Hiei alone so that she could gain his trust and his heart, but the small fire yokai was resisting her attempts with a fervor that had Hi in a constant bad mood. She was very likely to blow up at anyone who disturbed her and often killed the demons they were supposed to be apprehending instead. Ki had stopped spending any time with her that wasn't required because Hi would tease her cruelly and without mercy whenever Ki was in her presence. Ki was rarely seen nowadays without the slowly growing Kage, who was becoming more and more like Ki as time passed, which was making Hiei almost as disagreeable as Hi. Despite Yuna and Kurama's best attempts to distill the small feuds between their friends and family, little scuffles were happening on almost a day-to-day basis, and Kurama often found himself in the middle of them because they concerned Hiei. Yusuke and Kuwabara pretended not to notice the growing hostility amongst their friends and began spending more and more time away from the Reikai Palace with their spouses and their own families. Yukina was soon due to have another baby boy and Kuwabara was absent for a week to help his beautiful wife take care of their new son. Hiei, still disgruntled by the two's union, had refused to see any of their children or to even visit his younger sister. He did, however, tell Kuwabara that he hoped the son would not be as idiotic as his father, which was as close as a compliment as Kuwabara ever expected of the little yokai.

On the demon plane, however, another set of instances was occurring, and the Team's prime suspect, Serenius, was the cause and the effect of these instances.

Serenius had spent the past several months seeking the prophet he had originally heard the prophecy concerning the boy, Kage, from. When Yuna and Hi had come knocking on his tent door, he had just come back from a scouting mission, having taken heed to some information about the prophet's whereabouts from one of the townsmen in the village near the forest he was staying in. The source had not panned out, but he had found another source of information that seemed a little more reliable. However, he would spend the next few months, while his enemies trained and went on missions of their own, to follow an information trail that led him halfway across the demon plane and back. Finally, just as the Urameshi Team and the Yokai Sisters had found and killed Yama, he had found the hiding place of the demon prophet.

The seer was staying in a small village in a part of the demon plane known for their tendency towards civility rather than the violence that was rampant amongst demons. His prey was an older demon who looked just like an old human man except for the white eyes and the two small horns growing out of his bald temple. The seer stooped over a wooden cane and shuffled around like he had forgotten how to walk. When Serenius knocked on the door of the small wooden house where the prophet lived, he heard much grunting and shuffling and then felt a small burst of aura as the man attempted to figure out who was on the other side of the door from him. After a few seconds, the door opened and the old demon began shuffling off down a small hallway into a back sitting room that was decorated with a single rocking chair and a ragged-looking couch. Serenius followed the man in and shut the door quietly behind him.

Once inside the sitting room, he perched himself above the couch, using his ability to hover so that he did not quite touch the couch that might get his silken robes dirty. After he had sat down, he turned his head and faced the old demon man who had predicted the fall of both the human and demon races.

"It was no easy task, Getsu, finding you." Serenius said, by way of greeting.

The old prophet gave a toothy grin and revealed that he only had one tooth left in his head. "And yet you did; find me, that is." He said.

Serenius smiled warmly. "Yes, I did. Tell me, however, why did you not wish to be found?"

Getsu's face faltered and he said in an almost scared voice, "I have people looking for me."

Serenius' gray eyebrow raised an inch in speculation. "Really? Why?"

"Because I gave them a prediction they didn't want to hear. They seem to think if they kill me, it won't come true."

"Is that so?" Getsu nodded in response to Serenius' question. Serenius then said, "Who is it that is chasing you?"

"Some demon tribe callin' themselves the Brothers of Death. I told them their leader'd be killed in their first expedition, and, of course, the leader didn't like that, no sir." Getsu shook his head like he was trying to shake off a fly.

"I'm glad to see that they have yet to find you." Serenius said whole-heartedly.

"As am I." Getsu answered. "Now, what do you want from me?"

"Ah. I wished to ask you if you could see if it is all right for me to allow the demon child you predicted would destroy our race as well as the humans' to continue living. I know you said last time that as long as the young cat demon stayed by his side his fate would not come true, but I fear the child is just as unstable as he is."

Getsu closed his crinkly eyes and his breathing slowed down so that it was almost like he was sleeping. He remained that way for a very long time, or so it seemed to Serenius. Finally he opened his eyes and the whites around his irises were suddenly light blue instead.

"I am unable to see anything at the moment, Serenius. Come back in a few days and I may be able to tell you then. I cannot always see what I wish to see." The old man took an old coffee mug from the floor next to his chair and took a sip of its contents. Serenius stood up and bowed to the old man before exiting the house via teleportation.

Serenius allowed four days to pass then made his way back to Getsu's house. The old man seemed to know that he would be there because he opened the door before Serenius had even knocked upon it. They both made their way to the sitting room and sat down and Getsu got straight to the reason why Serenius was there.

"I have seen that unforeseen circumstances will cause the young girl to be separated from the boy in my earlier visions. They are closer than siblings at the moment, but there is currently a point of contention between their own family members that will separate them. If these problems are not resolved quickly, the two groups that joined together for the sake of the boy and girl will split apart and cause the boy to become unstable once more." He finished, taking a sip of the contents from his mug.

"What can stop their separation then?" Serenius inquired, concerned about this new turn of events. Although Hiei and the rest of the children saw him as an enemy, Serenius was simply concerned for the welfare of himself and the rest of the demon world, and the humans who were his prey and food. He remembered all too well when Getsu had given him the first prophecy about the boy child that would destroy life as he knew it. Serenius had been coerced into going to the old man by his brothers before the Urameshi Team killed all of them. Getsu had predicted that the child inside Hiei's womb was the bane to the two worlds and that it must be killed to save the rest of the humans and demons. But Serenius and his brothers had failed in either destroying the child or killing Hiei and therefore killing his child. And then the Sisters had joined the Urameshi Team and Serenius' attempts to kill the child became even more futile because of the oldest sister, Yuna, who was able to read his mind and therefore predict his every move and action. She was the only one of the eight opponents that truly posed any real threat to Serenius at the moment, and it was for this reason that he had gone back to Getsu to see if the old man knew of another way to rid the worlds of the demon boy or otherwise solve this seemingly unsolvable problem.

And Getsu had given him the answer that the youngest of the Sisters was the key to the prevention of the Apocalypse. The young, bouncy, hyperactive cat demon who toyed with her food before she ate it and annoyed the hell out of all but her oldest sister, who loved her dearly. Serenius believed this was the key and had therefore consented to the agreement between their two parties, but the continued breathing of the demon son still unnerved him and left him restless and uncertain about the outcome of his decision. So he had decided to kill the child anyway and sent the letter to Koenma of the Reikai. But before he could truly decide whether or not to follow up on his proposed meeting, he wanted to make sure that he was not needlessly killing a child, who should be allowed to flourish if possible. After all, Serenius knew that if it had not been for the kindness of a certain human woman in his youth, he would not even be here to have these uncertainties. And so now here he was asking the old prophet demon if he had acted rashly in his decision about whether or not to kill the demon child or if he had made the right play in coming to find Getsu first.

"Hiei and Kurama must get back together and the middle demon sister must give up on her desire for Hiei. This is essential and the cause of all of their current problems. Perhaps, if you were to cause a conflict that they could join together on, it might keep them together, and therefore preventing the Apocalypse from occurring." Getsu responded, still sipping from his chipped and dusty mug.

The silver-haired demon nodded his head solemnly. He had a feeling that this might lead to another fight between him and the others. He almost welcomed the chance for a decent battle. It had been almost eight years now since he had last fought the Urameshi Team, and that had really been him observing the battle between his brothers and the four members of the Team. He was sure that Yuna would have made sure that all of them were capable of fighting him now that she also believed a fight was inevitable. But that would most likely make the fight even more enjoyable. He rose from the couch and gave the old demon a half-bow.

"I thank you, Getsu. I will go now to disrupt their peace, so to speak." The last image Serenius had of the old man was a rather roguish smile and the irises of his eyes shining in the half-light of the room before he teleported back to his camp base in the Forest of Death.

Back in his campsite, Serenius began planning for his attack on the Reikai. He knew that his ability to teleport between the dimensions would be the key to a surprise attack, but he also knew that in order to unite the members of the Urameshi Team and the Yokai Sisters, he would have to send out another letter that would warn them of his arrival. His biggest concern in this whole ordeal was that the combined attack of all eight of them would be too much for him to handle, especially considering the fact that they had two teleporters themselves and a mind-reader. Obviously, the first thing he would need to do would be to decide how long it would take for him to recruit a few A-level demons that would occupy the other fighters while he fought the mind-reader. He would need to recruit several before he sent the letter with the date of his arrival.


	15. The Strength of Friendship

Chapter 15: The Strength of Friendship

Yusuke and Kuwabara were at their designated residences, enjoying a rare night off from their job as spirit detectives until their doorbells rang and a UPS driver delivered a package containing a DVD in it. When they popped the DVD into their players, it was to find the face of Koenma talking to them.

"Good afternoon, Yusuke. I know it's your day off, but we just received a letter from the demon at large, Serenius, telling us that he is gathering a force of A-class and higher demons to fight you guys on the Reikai. He claims that despite all evidence to the contrary, it is still necessary for him to kill Kage. We need you to report to the Reikai as soon as possible so that Botan can go over the rest of the details with you and the rest." Koenma was looking unusually serious as he told Yusuke this information.

Yusuke frowned. He was rather peeved that the demon Serenius had chosen his day off to send Koenma a challenge letter, but he had to have realized that it was impossible for him to really have a day off in his line of work. He popped the DVD out of his player and put it back into its case and put it on the shelf where he kept the rest of the DVDs and VHS tapes Koenma had sent him through the years.

After he was done putting the new DVD away, he made his way back into his and Keiko's room where she was sitting on their bed reading a book. It happened to be her day off, too, even though it was still a weekday and their two kids were at school still.

"Hey, Keiko, I gotta go to the Reikai." Yusuke said, waiting for her rage.

Keiko put her book down and glared at him. "But we had _plans_ for tonight, Yusuke-kun! Don't they realize that you have a _wife_ and _kids_? And that we want to see you every once in a while?"

Yusuke ran his hand through his hair nervously. "Yeah, they know, but that demon that was trying to kill Hiei and Kurama's kid, Kage, well, he's apparently decided that he's gonna come to the Reikai to kill Kage anyway."

Keiko looked at Yusuke like she didn't believe a word he was saying. "But I thought you said he had decided that as long as the girl demon was with him at all times, he would back off."

"Yeah, he did, but apparently he's decided that it's too dangerous after all, or something. So I gotta go and figure out when he's comin' and stuff." He gave Keiko a pleading look and finally she melted.

"Fine, but you are to ask Koenma-sama for _one night_ off without any sudden calls, okay?" She stood up and gave him a kiss on the lips and a hug. "Be safe." She always said that to him before he left on a mission, and he knew it wasn't that she didn't think he would be, but that it was her own way of rationalizing to herself that her husband's job was rather dangerous.

"Always. Say sorry to Hinata and Kosuke, 'kay?" He hugged her back and kissed her on her forehead. She nodded and he left there room and headed out of their house to the entrance to the Reikai.

Botan was sitting in one of the meeting rooms in the Reikai Palace, clutching the letter that had shown up in front of the Palace just this morning. It was very short, but revealed a massive attack on the Reikai that hadn't been seen in hundreds of years. She was nervous about the result because of the growing tensions between Kurama and Hi. She knew, as well as all of them did, that Serenius was very likely to use this fact to his advantage in the fight between the two groups. She also knew that all the entrances into the Reikai were going to be closed just as soon as everyone arrived here so that the demon army that Serenius had promised.

One by one, the members of her team started showing up. Kurama, as prompt as ever, was the first to arrive. He greeted her kindly but solemnly and sat down on one of the sofas lining the walls of the room. Hiei appeared through the window set high into the east wall and perched there on the windowsill, staring down at Botan, which made her feel just a little bit uneasy. She glanced over at Kurama and saw him shooting longing glances up at the little fire demon and felt a pang of pity in her stomach for him.

About five minutes passed and Yuna and Hi arrived through the door, both of them greeted Botan kindly then sat down on the opposite wall from where Kurama was sitting, or rather on the south wall. Kage and Ki showed up just a few seconds after Yuna and Hi had sat down. Ki ran and tackle-hugged Botan, who barely kept her balance and had to quickly separate her hands so that Ki did not rip the letter she had been clutching in her hands. She patted Ki on the back and then pried the teenage demon's arms off her. Ki and Kage sat down next to Ki's sisters.

Finally, several minutes later, Kuwabara arrived and sat down next to Kurama. Kurama waved his hello to his friend and Kuwabara began complaining quietly to Kurama about how upset Yukina had been when Kuwabara had gotten the message from Koenma. Kurama gave him sympathy and concurred that this was rather unexpected and upsetting, but didn't allow Kuwabara to rant for more than a couple minutes, by which time Yusuke finally showed up and Botan opened her mouth to speak to all of them.

"Good afternoon, everyone. I apologize that we had to take you all from your vacation, but this letter just arrived on the front doorstep of Koenma-sama's palace this morning. As he told you in his video message, Serenius-san has gathered a small army with which he plans to attack the Palace. The date he has given here is approximately three weeks from now, so we have decided to tell you guys about it now to allow you time to prepare and get your families and friends to safety. Once you return back here, you will not be allowed to leave the Reikai until after the battle is over, so if you have any other business you need to take care of, please do this in the two weeks we are giving you. You must come back here at exactly 5p.m. on Friday the 21st of September. If you are more than five minutes late, we will not be able to let you come here because we will be shutting down all entrances to the Reikai after this time. This will be exactly one week before Serenius-san has stated he will be attacking us. We are hoping that by shutting down access to the Reikai that he will be forced to attack us on his own." She finished and collected the letter she had passed around as she spoke from Yuna.

Everyone turned to the people sitting with them and began discussing the sudden decision to attack from the white-haired demon. Kurama was the only one who wasn't talking with the others; he was looking up at the windowsill on the east wall where Hiei was swaying slightly on the little ledge. Kurama peered into Hiei's face and saw a rare look of shock on its features. Hiei's eyes were dilated and his mouth was slightly open. It seemed as if Hiei was just as upset about the news as Kurama was. Kurama knew that Hiei was only showing this much emotion because he didn't think anyone was watching him, but he should have known that Kurama was _always_ watching him. Kurama yearned to hold Hiei in his arms and assure him that everything would be all right, but knew that even if they were still together Hiei would never allow him to do any such thing. Instead he stood up and walked out of the room, his exit only being noted by Yuna and Hi, who stood up to follow the fox but was pulled back down by Yuna's firm grip.

"No, you have done enough damage right now, Hi. This is a matter that is solely for the parents of Kage. I know you love Hiei, but you are not the mother of his child and therefore have no place in scorning the father of his child." Hi glared murderously at her sister and plopped back down on the sofa. She glanced up at the windowsill to find Hiei gone and her mood worsened. This was the perfect time for the stupid fox to worm his way back into Hiei's good books. Yuna was right: Kurama _was_ the father of Hiei's only child and therefore had the upper hand on her. She grumbled to herself and felt a chill on her right arm. She looked down to find Yuna's hand on her forearm, a blue glow resonated from it into her arm. It was Yuna's warning to stop what she was doing and to calm down. Hi stopped, for fear of angering her usually gentile sister and Yuna let her arm go.

"Stupid fox." Hiei said, approaching said fox where he sat on a bench in the royal garden.

Kurama looked up from his perch to see Hiei walking towards him from the pathway that led through the gardens. He smiled and said in a steady voice, "Hello, Hiei. What can I do for you?"

Hiei stopped several yards from where Kurama sat and said in an angry voice, "You can tell me why the bastard keeps trying to kill my son."

Kurama's smile fell a little and his eyebrows turned up in sadness. "I wish I could. I'd like an answer to that question, too. He keeps changing his story. It's like he just wanted to draw this out for his own amusement or something." The redhead put his head in his hands and sighed into them, his long locks fall across his face to create a sheet of hair between him and Hiei so that the fox could not see Hiei come closer to him.

Kurama suddenly felt the urge to be with Kage and stood up quickly, only to knock Hiei over as he stood up. The short demon had come to stand directly in front of the taller one and had gone unnoticed because Kurama's head had been in his hands. He caught the arm of the black-haired man before he fell over and saw the anger and bewilderment on Hiei's face and then before he really knew what he was doing, he was kissing Hiei with a passion driven by desperation and having held himself back from doing this for months. At first there was no response from Hiei and then Hiei was kissing him just as passionately as Kurama was and Hiei grabbed Kurama's hair and pulled his head closer to his own and they both fell to the dirt floor and Kurama landed on top of Hiei with a gasp of pain from both of them that was quickly stifled in the other's mouth. Kurama reached down and pulled down Hiei's pants to reveal his already half-hard member. He stroked it to full erection and tasted Hiei's moans as he continued to kiss the black-haired man.

Hiei suddenly tensed up and came into Kurama's hand and then the little demon moved such that he was now on top of Kurama and began undressing the fox demon. Once Kurama's chest was bare, Hiei leaned down and began planting moist kisses along Kurama's neckline and chest, wishing to please Kurama as he had pleased Hiei. He was not let down. The moans of pleasure escaping from the redhead's mouth were like music to Hiei's ears, urging him lower and lower down Kurama's torso until he was licking and kissing around the red pubic hair that surrounded Kurama's newly formed genitals. He stuck a finger inside Kurama and the groan that Kurama made was wonderful. He continued his exploration of this area for a few minutes more before getting too impatient and finally thrusting his member into Kurama.

Hiei pounded Kurama for several minutes before he came and collapsed on top of the redhead who put his arms around him and held him tight. He was too scared to believe that what was happening was real and too tired to care whether or not it was. If this was just his mind giving him a fantasy that he had been dreaming about for months then that was fine with him. If it was really happening then he would count his lucky stars and be thankful for the blessing he had been given.

The two demons remained locked in each others' arms for what seemed like days but was actually only a couple hours. Finally, Kurama whispered into the darkness that surrounded them, "We should probably go see our son." The two of them slowly got up from their place on the ground and re-clothed themselves. After both were presentable, they walked side-by-side to the palace and entered it then made their way up to the floor where Ki and Kage were staying.

Kurama knocked on the door and opened it to find the two little demons asleep on the king-size bed. Kurama and Hiei both walked inside and made their way over to the bed. Hiei pushed on Kage's arm roughly and Kage leapt up, reaching for his sword at his hip that he had apparently been sleeping with. "Stop!" Hiei shouted, grabbing Kage's sword right out of Kage's hand. Kage calmed down immediately and looked sheepishly up at his father and his mother. "What?" He said quietly, trying to make sure that he didn't wake up his sleeping companion who had apparently not heard Hiei shout at him.

"Come with us for a bit, Kage-san. We'd just like to spend a little time as family, if you don't mind." Kurama said, holding his hand out to his son. Kage shot a look at Hiei then stepped off the bed and waited for his parents to lead the way out of the room. He would much rather have stayed by Ki's side than join either one of his parents, but he knew that the look he had seen in his mother's eyes meant he would have to go along with them if he wanted to continue living, so he followed them out of the room and back through the palace to the outdoors. Once they were out in the garden, Kurama stopped and looked back at his son.

"Kage-san, I know you don't like me, but I want you to know that you are very dear to me even though we've only been able to spend a couple years together. I also know that you really like Ki-san, but do you know why we let you stay alone with her in a room? Do you really understand why you have to stay with her?"

Kage stared at his father like he hadn't heard a single word of what Kurama had just said to him. He glanced at his mother to see that Hiei was staring at him angrily and decided that it was probably time to answer Kurama's questions. He looked up into the green eyes he had inherited and said in a monotone voice, "Yes, Father. I do."

Kurama gave a sad smile and peered back into the smaller versions of his own eyes. "And what is that reason?"

"It's to prevent the silver-haired guy from killing me, isn't, Father?"

Kurama nodded. "Yes. Unfortunately, your relationship with Ki-san is apparently not enough to satiate Serenius, so we'll be fighting for your safety now; but you were there for that conversation. I want to tell you now that we—" Kurama pointed to Hiei and then to himself, "have decided that we're going to allow you to fight with us on one condition: you have to stay with us and with Ki."

"Understood, Father." Kage said, lowering his eyes from Kurama's. He glanced back at the palace yearningly but didn't dare ask to rejoin Ki until one of his parents told him it was okay. He didn't really care that there was some demon that was trying to kill him. He was a little concerned for the safety of Ki, but otherwise he felt that if the silver-haired demon came to kill him then the man would be rather surprised to find himself the one that was dead. He was almost nine now and perfectly capable of dealing with his enemies now; he didn't need anyone to help him. The only person he wanted to be around anymore was Ki, but he was currently waiting for the okay to go back to her so he waited while staring down at the ground near the feet of Kurama and Hiei.

Kurama looked down at his son and then to Hiei, who was standing a little apart from him on his right. Hiei was looking at Kage with a rather strange expression on his face and seemed like he was resisting the temptation to say something as his mouth was slightly open. Kurama was waiting for Hiei to say something to Kage, if anything, just to tell Kage that it was all right for him to go join Ki again in their room, but it looked like Hiei wasn't going to actually be able to articulate anything for a while. The redhead nodded slowly as if he was suddenly understanding why Hiei was so quiet and then turned his attention back to the young demon who was standing staring down at the ground like a child that had just been chastised.

"Kage-san, you can go, if you like. Just stay safe, and I'll see you a week before Serenius gets here." Kuram dismissed Kage and the boy ran off immediately, not even caring that it had been his father and not Hiei who had given him the okay to leave. If Kurama was going to be his guardian then Kage figured that it was okay for him to take orders from the redhead also. He jumped in through the third-story window into the room where Ki was still curled up in a ball on the mattress and calmed himself down before joining her again.

Back in the garden, Hiei was still dumbstruck. He was continuously facing new challenges that he wasn't used to and didn't know how to handle. It was too much for his mind and that was why he hadn't joined in with Kurama's explanation to Kage. He was on emotional overload at the moment and Kurama seemed to understand, as the fox just stood next to him waiting for him to gather his wits about him once again.

Several minutes passed in silence between the two of them and then Kurama said quietly, "I hate the idea of doing this just as much as I'm sure you do, Hiei, but we should probably tell Hi-san that we're…well, back together. I don't think I could take it if she tried to hit on you again."

Hiei's eyes widened in disgust but he didn't say anything for a while. Finally, he grunted his approval of Kurama's proposition and without saying anything else, the two of them made their way back to the palace for the second time that night, now to visit a different room in the place.

"Hi."

"Mmm?" Hi mumbled, rolling over on to her side on the bed next to her sister's.

"Prepare yourself for heartbreak. Kurama and Hiei are coming. They will be here shortly."

Hi jumped up from the bed with her heart trying to beat its way out of her chest. "What do you mean?" She shouted.

Yuna rose from her perch on the twin-sized mattress to the right of her sister's and caught Hi's wrist before the child could cause herself anymore damage. "You will understand when you see them, but I thought it kinder if you had some foresight to what the conversation is going to be." Blue eyes met black and Hi saw the kind sadness in her older sister's eyes. She knew Yuna only spoke truth, but she didn't want to believe that her already slim chance of winning over the man she loved were now zero. She pulled her wrist out of Yuna's grasp and collapsed back on the bed behind her. "This sucks." She muttered under her breath and waited for the knock she now knew would come.

_Knock. Knock._

"Come in." Hi called as calmly as she could. A second later the redheaded fox demon walked into the room followed by Hiei. The shorter of the two was glaring at no one and nothing in particular and muttering under his breath continuously. Hi though she knew what he was muttering to himself and her heart broke a little more.

"What? What do you guys want?" She said with an attempt at her usual contemptuous self.

Kurama was the one who spoke to her directly. "In light of the news about the attack by Serenius, Hiei and I decided a few things together and, as you are now involved with us, we thought we should settle matters with you."

Hi grumbled.

"I know you like Hiei," Kurama began, scrutinizing Hi's face; apparently Yuna had heard him and Hiei coming and had warned Hi about what their conversation would likely entail. "I know you like Hiei, but I don't think you really love him. Before you interrupt, I just wanted to say that you haven't known him as long as I have and also that I think you may just be lusting after him."

"Isn't that just what you're doing, though? I mean, every time you two get together, all you do is have sex, isn't it?" Hi asked, her temper rising to boiling point very quickly.

"No. Not all the time. And I'm able to admit my feelings towards Hiei a little more easily than he is, which is probably why you would think that's all we do together." Kurama said. He sighed and took a deep breath and then continued before Hi could gather her wits and make a counter argument. "Now, I want you to know that Hiei and I are back together again and we will continue to be together at least until we kill Serenius. I don't want this fact to come between you and your sisters and the rest of us. I am here to plead with you to let this go once and for all; or, if you can't do that, to at least accept that this is the case until we have defeated Serenius. We can't afford to let him see the contention between you and I while we're fighting him because you and I both know he'll use that against us in any way he can. It might make us lose this battle, and I don't think that that's what you want and I know it's not what I want. The safety of my child is at stake here, you know."

Hi made to retort, but shut her mouth. The stupid fox did have a good point. The silver-haired bastard would try to draw on her hatred for Kurama. And if she let the fact that she wanted to kill the fox get between the two groups, Ki and Kage might both go crazy and kill everyone during the fight. If not, then it was still entirely possible that Ki might get hurt and even though she found her younger sister completely irascible, Ki was still her sister and Hi certainly did not want any harm to come to her sister, unless it was coming from Hi, of course.

A blush crept across her face and she muttered angrily. "Fine, but this isn't entirely over! If you think for a sec that I would just give up then you're just as stupid as I thought you were."

Kurama bowed and left. Hiei lingered behind for just long enough to shoot Hi a contemptuous look and then disappeared with Kurama.


End file.
